WAKING   UP. 


Frontispiece. 


WHAT  TOMMY  DID. 


BY 


EMILY  HUNTINGTON  MILLER, 


AUTHOR    OF 
"ROYAL   ROAD  TO   FORTUNE,"  "HIGHWAYS  AND  HEDGES.' 


FIFTEENTH  THOUSAND. 


NEW  YORK: 
JOHN  B.  ALDEN,  PUBLISHER. 

1885. 


Copyright  1876, 
By  S.  C.  GRIGGS  AND  COMPANY. 


TO  THE.  BOYS  AND  GIRLS  OF 

THE   LITTLE   CORPORAL, 

THIS   LITTLE   VOLUME    IS    DEDICATED, 

IN  LOVING  REMEMBRANCE  OF  TEN  YEARS  OF   PLEASANT 
COMPANIONSHIP. 

EMILY    HUNTINGTON    MILLER. 
Chicago,  iSft. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER   I. 

PAGE 

WHAT  TOMMY  DID, 9 

CHAPTER   II. 

HOW    IT    WENT    ON,  .  •       *5 

CHAPTER   III. 
WHAT  BECAME  OF  THE  MUCILAGE,         .        .22 

CHAPTER   IV. 
TOMMY  AND  THE  DOCTOR,      .  .     33 

CHAPTER   V. 
APERIL  FOOL,  .  ....     45 

CHAPTER   VI. 
PANTS,     ...  -     56 

CHAPTER  VII. 
TOMMY  AT  SCHOOL, 7° 


CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER   VIII. 

MORE  MISCHIEF,  o, 

•        •        .     04 

CHAPTER   IX. 
LITTLE  RUNAWAY, 

CHAPTER   X. 

TOMMY'S  FORF'N  JULY,  .  I07 

CHAPTER   XI. 
TOMMY'S  MENAGERIE,      .         .         .  Ilg 

CHAPTER   XII. 
TOMMY'S  BALLOON, I34 

CHAPTER   XIII. 
TOMMY'S  ADVENTURE, I3g 

CHAPTER   XIV. 
THE  STORY  WITHOUT  ANY  END,    .         .  I52 

CHAPTER   XV. 
THE  BIRTHDAY  PARTY,  .  l6] 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

PAGE 

t.    WAKING  UP,      .         .         .         .         Frontispiece 

2.  WHAT  BECAME  OF  THE  MUCILAGE,    .         .     30 

3.  AFTER   THAT   THE   HORSE   LOOKED   AS   IF 

ONE   END    OF    HIM    HAD    SAT    DOWN    TO 

REST, 46 

4.  FIXING  THE  GALLUSES,       .         .         .        .68 

5.  "THAT'S  A  LELLIPHANT'S  NEST,  I  B'LIEVE 

so," 86 

<*.    "  COIN*    TO    SHAVE    ME    SOME    WHISKERS, 

LIKE  UNCLE  JIM,"          ...  90 

7.  THE  LOST  BALLOON,  .         .         ...  134 

8.  "On,"    SAID    TOMMY,    SITTING    RIGHT    UP 

IN     BED,     HIS     EYES     SHINING     WITH     DE 
LIGHT,       150 

9.  DOT  LEONARD, 172 


WHAT  TOMMY  DID, 


CHAPTER  I. 


HOW  THE  WEEK  BEGAN. 

HE  first  day,  of  course,  was  Sunday. 
|!  Sunday  always  comes  first  in  my 
,  though  I  have  heard  people 
say  it  came  away  down  at  the 
end,  after  Saturday.  It  came  first  in 
Tommy's  week,  but  he  didn't  know 
much  about  it  until  he  waked  up  one 
morning  and  found  the  sun  shining  very 
bright,  and  wondered  why  his  mamma 


IO  WHAT    TOMMY    DID. 

didn't  get  up  and  dress  him.  Then  he 
crept  out  of  bed,  and  went  to  the  win 
dow,  and  stood  there  in  his  night-gown, 
watching  an  old  robin  that  was  feeding 
her  babies  with  worms  for  breakfast. 
The  baby  robins  opened  their  mouths 
very  wide,  and  seemed  to  relish  their 
breakfast,  which  reminded  Tommy  that 
he  wanted  his  own.  But  when  he  turned 
around  from  the  window,  he  saw  his  new 
red  trumpet  lying  on  the  floor,  and  he 
picked  it  up  and  blew  it  very  loud  indeed. 
It  waked  up  everybody  in  the  house. 
Bridget  thought  it  was  the  milkman,  and 
clattered  out  to  the  door  with  one  foot 
half  way  into  her  shoe ;  and  Tommy's 
mamma  opened  her  eyes  very  wide,  and 
said, 

"  Why,  Tommy   Bancroft !    didn't   you 
know  it  was  Sunday  morning?" 


HOW    THE    WEEK    BEGAN.  II 

And  that  was  the  first  Tommy  ever 
remembered  about  Sunday.  After  break 
fast,  Uncle  Jim  didn't  go  to  the  city, 
but  sat  and  read  with  his  pretty  new 
slippers  on,  and  Tommy  was  dressed  up 
in  his  white  linen  clothes  and  buttoned 
gaiters,  and  had  his  yellow  hair  curled 
into  queer  little  curls  that  didn't  stay  in 
very  well,  and  went  with  his  mamma  to 
a  great  house  with  a  bell  on  the  top  of 
it.  They  called  it  a  church.  Tommy's 
mamma  told  him  he  mustn't  talk  in 
church.  There  were  a  great  many  other 
people  there,  and  nobody  talked  at  all, 
except  one  man  in  a  kind  of  a  box  high 
up  at  one  end,  and  that  man  talked 
all  the  time.  Tommy  thought  perhaps 
he  didn't  know  any  better.  There  was 
a  little  girl  in  the  next  seat,  with  a  blue 
and  white  feather  in  her  hat.  She 


12  WHAT    TOMMY    DID. 

looked  at  Tommy  a  good  deal,  and 
Tommy  looked  at  the  feather.  He 
wondered  if  it  was  a  rooster's  feather. 
He  thought  that  he  should  like  to  have 
a  rooster  with  such  feathers.  Then  the 
little  girl's  hat  began  to  move  about ; 
then  there  were  two  hats  and  two  blue 
and  white  feathers  — Tommy  saw  them  ; 
then  three  hats,  then  four,  then  the 
whole  air  was  full  of  them,  and  Tommy 
laid  his  head  down  on  his  mother's  lap 
and  didn't  remember  any  more. 

They  must  have  gone  home  after  a 
while,  for  Grandma  Bancroft  was  there 
to  dinner,  and  she  had  her  black  velvet 
ba^  with  beads  around  the  bottom. 

o 

Tommy  liked  to  play  with  the  beads,  and 
sometimes  Grandma  Bancroft  used  to 
open  the  bag  and  give  him  some  cara 
way  seeds,  or  red  and  white  peppermint 


HOW    THE    WEEK    BEGAN.  13 

candies.  This  time  she  gave  him  *  two 
raisins,  and  asked  him  if  lie  could  tell 
her  about  the  sermon. 

"  They  didn't  have  any  of  them  fings 
to  my  church,"  said  Tommy,  innocently. 

He  thought  about  it  while  he  was 
eating  his  raisins,  and  then  he  said, 

"  Was  that  what  the  men  passed 
around  in  the  boxes,  dramma  ?  I  didn't 
take  any  of  that.  Wish't  I  had." 

Grandma  tried  to  explain  about  the 
sermon,  and  told  the  little  boy  that  the 
minister  was  trying  to  tell  the  people 
how  to  be  good.  But  Tommy  didn't 
understand. 

"  He  didn't  speak  to  me,  'tall,"  he 
insisted;  "kept  talkin'  to  himself  all  the 
time.  Course  if  he  talked  to  me  I 
should  understood  him;  what  you 
spose?" 


14  WHAT    TOMMY    DID. 

But,  by  and  by,  mamma  took  Tommy 
on  her  lap,  and  told  him  all  about 
Samuel,  the  little  boy  that  talked  with 
God ;  and  about  David  the  shepherd 
boy  that  slew  the  great  giant ;  and 
about  Jesus,  the  dear  Savior,  who 
lived  and  died  to  save  just  such  little 
boys  as  he ;  and  then  Tommy  felt  very 
good  and  very  loving,  and  meant  to 
mind  his  mamma  as  long  as  he  lived, 
and  always  let  the  baby  have  his  red 
ball  and  his  trumpet,  and  say  please 
to  Bridget,  and  not  cry  when  his  face 
was  washed.  He  said  his  little  prayer 
very  earnestly  and  heartily,  though  he 
was  sound  asleep  two  minutes  after 
ward.  And  after  that,  Sunday  always 
came  regularly  in  Tommy's  week. 


CHAPTER   II. 

HOW    IT   WENT   ON. 

ON  DAY  was  Tommy's  own  day, 
and  he  liked  it  the  very  best  of 
all.  First,  because  it  was  wash 
ing  day,  which  was  the  very  reason 
mamma  didrit  like  it.  He  knew  it 
was  Monday  the  minute  he  waked  up, 
because  there  was  his  red  plaid  dress 
and  gingham  apron  for  him  to  wear. 
He  always  wore  that  dress  on  washing 
days,  and  baking  days,  and  days  when 
mamma  was  too  busy  to  look  after  him ; 
and  Tommy's  heart  gave  a  great  jump 
of  delight  when  he  saw  it,  for  he  knew 


l6  WHAT    TOMMY    DID. 

he  could  dig  in  the  dirt  with  the  fire 
shovel,  and  nobody  would  say, 

"  Why,  Tommy  Bancroft,  look  at  your 
new  clothes!" 

When  his  mamma  dressed  him,  she 
said, 

"  I  can't  stop  to  curl  your  hair  this 
morning,  because  it's  washing  day;"  and 
then  Tommy  was  gladder  yet.  When 
he  was  a  man,  he  meant  to  have  all  his 
hair  cut  close  to  his  head,  so  nobody 
could  curl  it  —  it  always  made  him  so 
cross  to  have  it  pulled. 

After  breakfast,  his  mamma  tied  his 
old  straw  hat  under  his  chin,  and  told 
him  to  run  and  play,  like  a  good  boy. 
Tommy  went  straight  out  to  the  sink 
drain  in  the  back  yard.  There  was 
quite  a  little  river  of  soap  suds  running 
through  it,  and  Tommy  fished  in  it 


HOW    IT    WENT    ON.  1 7 

awhile  with  the  handle  of  his  mother's 
parasol  that  he  found  on  the  hall  table. 
She  shouldn't  have  left  it  there,  you 
know.  Then  he  thought  he  would  build 
a  dam  across  the  drain,  and  he  threw 
down  the  parasol  and  went  in  to  get 
the  fire  shovel  to  dig  with.  Bridget  was 
cross,  and  said  she  wanted  the  shovel 
herself;  did  he  think  she  was  going  to 
put  in  coal  with  her  fingers  ?  Then  he 
thought  he  would  take  a  knife,  and  while 

o 

he  was  looking  for  one  he  spied  his 
mother's  silver  pie  knife  in  the  spoon 
basket.  It  was  broad  and  flat,  pretty 
much  like  a  shovel,  and  Tommy  thought 
he  could  make  it  do. 

"  Course  she'd  let  me  take  it ;  won't 
hurt  it,  'tall,"  said  Tommy  to  his  con 
science;  but  he  was  very  careful  to  keep 
it  out  of  Bridget's  sight  as  he  trudged 


1 8  WHAT    TOMMY    DID. 

back  to  the  drain.  He  found  a  nice,  soft 
place  to  dig  dirt,  in  the  middle  of  one 
of  mamma's  flower  beds.  It  was  full  of 
little  sticks,  to  show  where  the  seeds  were 
planted  a  few  days  before  ;  but  the  seeds 
had  not  come  up,  and  Tommy  thought  it 
must  be  because  there  was  too  much  dirt. 
He  pulled  off  his  hat  for  a  cart,  and  it 
was  splendid  fun  to  load  it  up  with  the 
pie  knife,  and  drag  it  to  the  drain  by  the 
ribbons.  Pie  knives  are  not  made  to  dig 

o 

with  in  the  dirt,  and  pretty  soon  it  began 
to  curl  up  at  the  point,  and  then  the 
handle  doubled  down  sidewise,  and 
Tommy  threw  it  down  with  the  parasol, 
saying  to  himself,  "  I  guess  Uncle  Jim 
can  fix  it." 

Whils  he  was  squatted  up  in  the  very 
middle  of  the  drain,  somebody  emptied 
another  tub  full  of  suds,  and  it  came 


HOW    IT    WENT    ON.  19 

swashing  along  and  washed  Tommy  and 
the  dam  away  together.  He  gave  one 
little  squeal  of  astonishment ;  but,  though 
he  was  very  wet  and  muddy,  he  only  put 
on  his  dirty  little  hat  and  started  after 
the  gray  kitten  that  was  watching  a  bird 
under  the  raspberry  bushes.  He  chased 
her  three  times  around  the  garden  and 
twice  under  the  fence,  but  he  couldn't 
catch  her,  though  he  tore  the  brim  half 
off  from  his  hat,  and  did  something  to 
the  skirt  of  his  plaid  dress  that  made  it 
hang  down  around  his  feet.  Then  he 

o 

went  into  the  coal  cellar,  and  climbed  up 
and  down  the  great  mountain  of  coal, 
and  played  he  was  a  traveler,  climbing 
up  some  icy  mountains,  like  some  men 
Uncle  Jim  read  about.  When  he  was 
tired  of  this  he  thought  it  must  be  dinner 
time,  so  he  started  for  the  house. 


20  WHAT    TOMMY    DID. 

There  was  an  elegant  carriage  at  the 
gate,  and  he  wondered  if  his  Aunt  Louise 
hadn't  come  to  bring  him  the  velocipede 
she  promised  him.  He  went  to  look  for 
his  mamma,  but  she  was  not  in  her  room, 
or  the  dining  room,  or  the  nursery.  So 
he  walked  straight  into  the  parlor,  and 
there  was  his  pretty  mamma,  in  her  nice, 
ruffled  morning  dress,  and  there  were 
two  strange  ladies  and  the  minister  s 
wife  ! 

Dear,  dear !  how  his  mamma  looked  ! 
She  felt  as  if  she  should  faint  away ;  and 
the  strange  ladies  said,  "  Is  this  your 
youngest,  Mrs.  Bancroft  ?  "  and  tried  not 
to  laugh  ;  but  the  minister's  wife  said, 
"Come  here,  Tommy;"  and  then  she  gave 
right  up  and  laughed  till  the  tears  ran 
down  her  cheeks.  Tommy's  mamma 
laughed,  too,  though  she  looked  at  first 


HOW    IT    WENT    ON.  21 

as  if  she  were  going  to  cry ;  and  Tommy 
stood  there  with  his  old,  torn  skirt 
hanging  down  over  his  muddy  little 
trousers  and  stockings,  his  old,  torn  hat 
brim  flopping  about  his  shoulders,  and 
his  hands  and  face  and  his  long,  yellow 
hair  all  black  and  grimy  with  coal  dust, 
and  wasn't  one  bit  ashamed  ! 


CHAPTER    III. 

WHAT    BECAME    OF    THE    MUCILAGE. 

F  it  had  not  rained  that  day,  it 
never  would  have  happened ;  but, 
before  Tommy  had  half  finished  his 
breakfast,  Uncle  Jim  got  up  and 
walked  to  the  front  window,  and 
remarked  that  it  was  "  raining  cats  and 
dogs." 

Tommy  looked  up,  with  his  mouth 
full  of  bread  and  butter,  to  see  if  Uncle 
Jim  was  really  in  earnest;  but  as  he 
looked  perfectly  sober,  he  immediately 
scrambled  down  from  his  chair  and 


WHAT    BECAME    OF    THE    MUCILAGE.     23 

rushed  to  the  window,  expecting  to  see 
a  shower  of  black  and  white  kittens, 
with  a  smart  sprinkling  of  curly  dogs. 
What  he  really  saw  was  a  very  muddy 
river,  rushing  along  through  the  gutter ; 
two  men,  with  tin  pails  and  short  pipes, 
tramping  down  the  street ;  and  a  miser 
able-looking  dog,  with  a  bone  in  his 
mouth,  picking  his  way  through  the  mud. 
He  looked  as  if  he  might  have  rained 
down,  but  Tommy  knew  he  didn't, 
because  he  knew  where  he  lived  up  the 
alley,  and  he  had  often  seen  him  sneak 
ing  around  the  back  door  after  bits 
which  Tommy  threw  away  when  he 
took  his  lunch  out-doors.  Just  at  that 
instant  Uncle  Jim  came  in  from  the  back 
hall,  and  said,  in  a  very  dreadful  voice, 
"  Now,  then,  Tommy  Trotter,  where 
are  my  rubbers  ?  " 


24  WHAT    TOMMY    DID. 

When  anything  was  lost  in  that  house 
they  always  asked  Tommy  about  it.  It 
was  a  habit  they  had  of  supposing  that 
Tommy  had  had  it,  especially  if  it  was 
something  he  never  ought  to  touch. 

Tommy  forgot  all  about  the  cats  and 
dogs,  and  looked  at  Uncle  Jim,  and  said, 
quickly,  "  I  d'n  know." 

That  was  a  habit  Tommy  had,  and  he 
always  said,  "/  d'n  know"  before  he 
stopped  to  think.  But  he  did  know  very 
well,  and  so  he  said, 

"O  yes,  Uncle  Jim.  They're  over  to 
Billy's  house,  in  the  big  troft  where  the 
horse  drinks.  Me  and  Billy  sailed  'em 
for  boats,  all  full  wid  oats,  and  they 
sinked  down  to  the  floor,  of  the  water." 

"  Why,  Tommy  Bancroft,"  said  his 
mamma,  looking  greatly  troubled,  "  what 
shall  I  do  with  you?" 


WHAT    BECAME    OF    THE    MUCILAGE.     25 

Uncle  Jim  looked  at  him  very  soberly, 
and  said, 

"Well,  young  man,  here  I  am,  two' 
miles  from  my  office,  and  no  rubbers* 
I  should  like  to  know  what  you  mean 
to  do  about  it  ?  You  ought  to  buy  me 
some  more.  I  shall  catch  my  death  of 
cold,  and  then  how'll  you  feel,  sir?" 

Tommy's  little  face  brightened  in  a 
minute. 

"  O,  I'll  buy  you  some  more,"  said  he  ; 
and  he  trotted  away  to  get  his  bank, 
which  had  a  loose  floor,  so  that  whatever 
you  put  in  at  the  top  could  be  easily 
shaken  out  at  the  bottom,  an  arrange 
ment  Tommy  found  very  satisfactory. 
The  first  thing  that  came  out  was  a 
quarter,  new  and  crisp,  but  Tommy's 
heart  never  faltered. 

"  There,"  said  he,  "  you  can  buy  some 


26  WHAT    TOMMY    DID. 

more  rubbers,  and  I  won't  never  sail  'em 
in  the  troft." 

"  Very  well,"  said  Uncle  Jim,  putting 
the  money  in  his  pocket,  and  going  into 
the  hall. 

"  Uncle  Jim,"  called  Tommy,"  if  there's 
any  shange  left,  you  buy  me  some 
peanuts,  will  you  ?  " 

Uncle  Jim  nodded,  and  said,  "  I 
shouldn't  wonder,"  as  he  strode  out  into 
the  rain. 

Tommy's  mamma  gave  the  baby  her 
breakfast,  talked  awhile  with  Bridget 
about  supper,  dusted  the  parlor,  watered 
the  ivy  in  the  bay  window,  and  then  she 
put  the  baby  on  the  floor  in  the  dining 
room,  and  gave  her  some  clothes  pins 
and  a  tin  pan  to  play  with.  Tommy 
had  his  Noah's  arkr  but  he  had  to  keep 
it  on  the  table,  because  the  baby  put 


WHAT    BECAME    OF    THE    MUCILAGE.      2  7 

the  camels  and  elephants  into  her 
mouth  whenever  she  got  a  chance,  and 
once  she  sucked  all  the  paint  off  from 
Shem,  Ham  and  Japheth,  and  made 
herself  quite  sick.  Ellen  was  ironing  in 
the  kitchen,  and  Mrs.  Bancroft  said, 

"  Now,  Ellen,  it  is  such  a  rainy  day, 
nobody  will  be  in,  and  I  am  going  up 
to  look  over  the  winter  clothing  and  put 
it  away.  The  children  will  do  very  well 
in  here,  but  you  must  keep  your  door 
open,  and  look  in  once  in  a  while." 

"  Yes'm,"  said  Ellen  ;  "  Tommy  's  gettin' 
right  handy  to  mind  the  baby  when  he 
tries." 

"O,  I'll  'tend  to  her,"  said  Tommy, 
who  was  trying  to  stand  Mrs.  Noah  on 
the  ridge  pole  to  the  ark.  "Ellen  needn't 
mind  about  us  at  all." 

So    Tommy's    mamma   went   away  up 


28  WHAT    TOMMY    DID. 

stairs,  and  Elien  hurried  with  her  ironing, 
looking  out  once  in  a  while  through  the 
rain  to  see  if  the  grocer's  young  man  was 
not  coming  for  his  orders.  When  he  did 
come,  she  shut  the  dining-room  door, 
because  the  baby  was  always  frightened  at 
the  grocer's  young  man,  though  Ellen 
herself  did  not  seem  at  all  afraid  of  him. 
It  was  just  at  this  moment  that  Tommy 
spied  a  bottle  of  mucilage  on  the  clock 
shelf  over  the  table,  and  it  struck  him 
instantly  what  a  fine  thing  it  would  be 
to  fasten  on  the  elephant's  trunk  and 
Noah's  head  again.  It  was  quite  easy 
to  reach  it  and  pull  out  the  cork,  but 
there  did  not  happen  to  be  any  brush, 
so  Tommy  was  forced  to  use  one  of 
his  fingers,  which  answered  very  well, 
only  he  had  to  wipe  it  frequently  upon 
his  apron.  Noah's  head  refused  to  stick, 


WHAT    BECAME    OF    THE    MUCILAGE.     2Q 

and  so  did  the  elephant's  trunk,  though 
he  tried  it  on  nearly  all  the  animals. 

Then  he  concluded  he  would  paste 
up  handbills,  as  he  had  seen  men  do 
on  the  street.  So  he  got  baby's  little, 
soft,  white  hair  brush,  and  poured  out 
some  of  the  mucilage  into  the  seat  of 
Uncle  Jim's  table  chair.  Then  he 
dipped  the  brush,  and  stuck  pieces  of 
the  morning  paper  on  the  walls,  on 
the  doors,  on  the  stove,  and,  last  of  all, 
he  happened  to  remember  how  he  had 
seen  a  funny  man  walking  through  the 
streets  with  handbills  on  his  hat  and 
his  back,  so  he  pasted  some  papers  on 
the  baby's  back,  and  on  the  top  of  her 
poor,  little,  bald  head.  Baby  had  no 
hair  to  speak  of,  but  she  did  not  at 
all  fancy  this  way  of  dressing  it,  so 
she  set  up  a  loud  scream  of  anger,  and 


30  WHAT    TOMMY    DID. 

at  that  very  moment  came  a  ring  at 
the  door  bell. 

"  Dear,  dear  !  "  said  Tommy's  mamma, 
peeping  out  at  her  chamber  window, 
"  if  there  isn't  Miss  Dilly  Dean  come 
to  spend  the  day." 

Mamma  hurried  down  to  the  door  to 
receive  Miss  Dilly,  who  stood  in  the 
hall,  with  the  inky  water  running  off 
from  her  umbrella,  and  making  a  little, 
black  river  on  the  oilcloth. 

"  You  didn't  look  for  me  to-day,  I'm 
sure,'7  said  Miss  Dilly,  "but  I  thought 
I  should  be  sure  of  a  good,  long  visit 
all  to  myself,  because  it  rained  so." 

Ellen  went  back  to  try  to  hush  the 
baby,  and  Tommy  stood  in  the  door 
with  the  hair  brush  in  his  hand,  while 
mamma  said, 

"  Well,    come    right    into    the    dining 


WHAT   BECAME  OF  THE   MUCILAGE. 


Page  30. 


f 

WHAT    BECAME    OF    THE    MUCILAGE.     3! 

room,  Miss  Dilly,  and  dry  your  feet; 
we  keep  a  fire  there  on  account  of  the 
baby." 

And  Tommy  kept  on  staring  at  Miss 
Dilly's  funny  little  curls,  until  mamma 
pushed  Uncle  Jim's  chair  to  the  grate, 
and  said, 

"  Sit  right  down  here,  Miss  Dilly ;" 
and  Miss  Dilly  sat  down. 

Mamma  began  to  pick  up  things 
about  the  room,  and  by  and  by  she 
found  the  empty  mucilage  bottle,  and 
she  said, 

"Why,  Tommy  Bancroft,  where's  my 
mucilage  ?" 

o 

Then  Tommy  put  his  finger  in  his 
mouth,  and  looked  at  Miss  Dilly  harder 
than  ever,  and  said,  " Sites  sittid  on  it? 

Miss  Dilly  jumped  up  as  spry  as  a 
kitten,  and  the  chair  jumped,  too ;  and 


32  WHAT    TOMMY    DID. 

Miss  Billy's  best  alpaca  dress  was  just 
about  ruined. 

I  don't  know  just  what  Tommy's 
mamma  said  to  him,  but  whatever  it 
was,  she  put  him  to  bed  afterward  to 
think  about  it. 

And  that  was  what  happened  on 
Tuesday. 


CHAPTER    IV. 


TOMMY    AND    THE    DOCTOR. 

HE  next  day  must  have  been 
Wednesday,  but  Tommy  did  not 
remember  much  about  it,  for  long 
before  morning  he  began  to  feel 
very  sick.  He  had  bad  dreams.  First 
he  thought  an  elephant  picked  him  up 
with  his  long,  crooked  finger,  and 
tucked  him  away  in  one  corner  of  his 
big  mouth,  and  Tommy  felt  very  hot 
and  uncomfortable  in  there.  And  then 
he  thought  he  had  swallowed  the  ele 
phant,  and  found  him  very  cold  and 

3 


34  WHAT    TOMMY    DID. 

heavy,  and  altogether  too  large  for  his 
quarters.  And  the  next  Tommy  knew, 
his  mamma  was  standing  by  his  crib, 
with  a  lamp  in  her  hand,  looking  very 
anxious,  and  that  set  Tommy  to  cry 
ing.  He  cried  so  long  and  so  loud 
that  Uncle  Jim  came  to  see  what  was 
the  matter.  Uncle  Jim  looked  very 
sleepy ;  said  he  guessed  Tommy  would 
be  all  right  in  the  morning ;  most 
likely  he  had  eaten  something.  Now 
that  was  one  of  Uncle  Jim's  aggra 
vating  ways ;  whenever  Tommy  was 
sick,  he  always  insisted  it  was  because 
he  had  "eaten  something?  as  if  boys 
were  not  always  eating  something. 
When  he  had  said  this  he  felt  as  if 
he  had  done  his  whole  duty,  and  went 
back  to  bed  contentedly;  but  Tommy's 
mamma  soothed,  and  petted,  and  fussed 


TOMMY    AND    THE    DOCTOR.  35 

over  him  until  morning,  when  she  told 
Uncle  Jim  that,  in  her  opinion,  Tom 
my  was  a  very  sick  boy,  and  must 
have  the  doctor  at  once.  Uncle  Jim 
finished  his  breakfast  and  then  went 
into  the  bedroom  chewing  his  tooth 
pick.  He  sat  down  by  the  bed  and 
took  Tommy  on  his  knee. 

"Well,  sir,"  said  he  briskly,  "are  you 
going  to  the  city  with  me,  to-day?" 

Tommy  tried  to  smile,  but  he  only 
sneezed  five  times  in  succession. 

"  My  dear  child !  where's  your  hand 
kerchief?"  exclaimed  Uncle  Jim,  grop 
ing  about  in  a  bewildered  fashion,  as 
if  he  supposed  little  boys  had  half 
a  dozen  pockets  in  their  nightgowns, 
and  carried  handkerchiefs  in  them  all. 
Mamma  rushed  to  the  rescue,  but,  by 
that  time,  Uncle  Jim  had  solved  the 


36  WHAT    TOMMY    DID. 

difficulty  by  wiping  Tommy's  nose  with 
the  corner  of  the  white  counterpane. 

"  It's  only  a  cold,"  he  said,  putting 
him  back  in  bed  ;  "  but  if  it  will  be 
any  satisfaction  to  you,  I'll  have  the 
doctor  come  around  and  look  at  him. 
I  wouldn't  worry  about  him,  though/' 

As  if  the  dear  little  woman  could 
help  it! 

Doctor  Smith  was  out  of  town,  so 
Uncle  Jim  sent  Doctor  Brown,  a  very 
pompous  individual,  but  quite  good 
natured.  He  looked  at  Tommy,  and 
Tommy's  mamma  watched  him  very  sus 
piciously.  He  looked  at  his  tongue,  and 
felt  of  his  pulse,  then  rubbed  his  hands 
together  and  asked, 

"  Has  he  eaten  anything  to  disagree 
with  him,  madam?" 

"Not    a    thing?    said     Mrs.    Bancroft, 


TOMMY    AND    THE    DOCTOR.  37 

positively.  "  I'm  very  particular  about 
his  diet." 

Then  the  doctor  looked  closely  at 
Tommy's  face,  which  was  quite  red  and 
blubbery,  partly  with  the  cold  and  partly 
with  crying  so  much  ;  he  looked  behind 
his  ears  and  under  his  chin  ;  lifted  the 
yellow  hair  from  his  neck,  and  said, 

"  Hm — m  ;  has  your  son  ever  had  the 
measles,  madam  ?  " 

"  Never,"  said  Mrs.  Bancroft,  faintly 

"  Then  he  has  them  now,  madam," 
said  the  doctor,  blandly ;  "  a  very  clear 
case,  and  coming  out  finely."  And  he 
nodded  his  head  at  Tommy  as  if  it  was 
a  delightful  thing  to  have  the  measles. 

Then  they  all  went  out,  but  presently 
the  doctor  came  back  with  a  spoonful 
of  nice,  red  jelly,  and  said, 

"  Here,   my    little    man,    is    something 


38  WHAT    TOMMY    DID. 

very  nice  for  you  ;  let  me  see  you  take 
it." 

Tommy  had  never  been  deceived 
about  medicine,  so  he  sat  up  directly 
and  took  it  in  his  mouth,  but  it  tasted 
very  badly,  and  he  would  have  spit  it 
out,  only  the  doctor  looked  very  fierce, 
and  said,  "  Swallow  it,  quick"  in  such  a 
dreadful  voice  Tommy  dared  not  do 
anything  else. 

The  doctor  went  away  laughing,  as  if 
it  was  a  good  joke  to  cheat  a  little  boy ; 
but  Tommy  lay  down  on  his  pillow,  with 
his  honest  little  heart  full  of  indignation. 
By  and  by  he  said, 

"  Mamma,  don't  doctors  have  to  tell 
the  troof,  like  other  folks?" 

Tommy's  mamma  wished  him  to  re 
spect  the  doctor,  but  she  thought  it 
a  great  deal  more  important  that  he 


TOMMY    AND    THE    DOCTOR.  39 

should  respect  the  truth,  so  she  told 
him  that  everybody  was  bound  to  speak 
the  truth',  and  that  it  was  not  right  to 
deceive  sick  people,  or  cheat  little  boys. 
Tommy  grew  worse  instead  of  better. 
There  were  the  little  red  spots  on  his 
neck,  but  no  more  measles  came  out, 
and  his  mamma  began  to  grow  alarmed. 
She  wondered  if  the  doctor  knew  so 
very  much.  He  wasn't  her  doctor,  and 
she  had  not  a  particle  of  confidence  in 
the  good  sense  of  any  other  doctor  in 
the  world  but  her  doctor.  What  if 
Tommy  should  die  ?  And  then  she 
remembered  all  his  naughty  little  pranks, 
and  wondered  how  she  could  have  been 
so  vexed  with  him  about  the  mucilage, 
and  thought,  if  he  only  got  well,  she 
would  never  be  vexed  with  him  again. 
About  noon  she  sent  Ellen  for  Uncle 


4O  WHAT    TOMMY    DID. 

Jim,  and  begged  him  to  telegraph  to 
New  York,  for  Tommy's  papa  to  come 
straight  home.  Uncle  Jim  sat  down  by 
Tommy  again,  and  began  to  question 
him.  Uncle  Jim  was  a  very  obstinate 
man,  and  he  still  believed  Tommy  had 
"  eaten  something." 

"  Where  was  he  yesterday  ?  "  he  asked. 

"  In  the  house  all  day,"  said  mamma; 
"  don't  you  remember  how  it  rained  ? " 

"He  was  over  to  Billy's,  ma'am,  about 
tea  time,"  said  Ellen ;  "  you  mind  you 
said  he  might  go  and  play  in  the  barn." 

"  O,  yes,"  said  mamma.  "  I  had  for 
gotten  ;  but  it  was  only  half  an  hour 
or  so,  and  he  had  on  his  rubbers." 

"  Did  you  play  in  the  water,  Tommy  ?  " 
asked  Uncle  Jim. 

"  N  no,"  said  Tommy,  faintly;  "only 
we  tried  to  catch  it  in  our  moufs,  where 


TOMMY    AND    THE    DOCTOR.  4! 

it  runned  down  the  roof,  and  it  went 
down  our  backs,  and  felt  awful  funny." 

"I  should  think  so,"  said  Uncle  Jim; 
"  and  what  else  did  you  do  ? " 

"  Noffin  ;    only  played." 

"Played  what?  What  did  you  eat?" 
persisted  Uncle  Jim. 

"  Noffin,"  said  Tommy,  "  only  I  was 
Billy's  horse,  and  —  O,  yes,  Uncle  Jim, 
he  gave  me  some  shopped  feed? 

"  Chopped  feed !  what  on  earth  was 
that?"  asked  Uncle  Jim,  glancing  tri 
umphantly  at  mamma. 

"  Why,  turnuts  and  oats,  shopped  in 
a  pail,  and  water  mixed  in,"  said  Tommy, 
with  the  pride  of  an  inventor. 

"  Raw  turnips  and  oats  !  there's  a 
delightful  mixture  for  you,"  exclaimed 
Uncle  Jim;  "and  you  ate  that  stuff,  did 
you,  Tommy?" 


42  WHAT    TOMMY    DID. 

"  Y-e-e-s,"  said  Tommy,  faintly,  as  if  it 
were  not  quite  pleasant  to  remember ;  "  I 
used  to  like  turnuisT 

Mamma  looked  perfectly  horrified, 
Ellen  pulled  the  corner  of  her  apron 
and  giggled  as  loud  as  she  dared ;  but 
Uncle  Jim  leaned  back  in  his  chair  and 
laughed  a  great,  hearty,  ringing  laugh, 
until  you  would  have  thought  the  win 
dows  rattled. 

"  Anything  more,  Tommy?"  he  said,  at 
last ;  "did  you  take  condition  powders?" 

"  No,"  said  Tommy,  "  but  Billy  rubbed 
my  neck  with  gogling  oil,  'cause  I  had 
the  —  the  marrow  bones? 

"  Gargling  oil !  That  accounts  for  the 
measles,"  said  Uncle  Jim,  laughing  again; 
and  then  he  wiped  his  eyes,  and  told 
Ellen  to  bring  him  a  glass  of  warm  water, 
with  a  teaspoonful  of  mustard  in  it 


TOMMY    AND    THE    DOCTOR.  43 

"  Now,  Tommy,"  said  he,  "  I  want  you 
to  drink  this  all  down ;  every  drop." 

"Is  it  good?"  wailed  Tommy. 

"  Not  very,"  said  Uncle  Jim,  taking  a 
little  sip;  "  it  isn't  very  bad,  either;  and 
if  you  will  drink  it  all  before  I  count 
ten,  I'll  buy  you  a  jack  knife." 

Tommy  drank  very  fast,  and  Uncle  Jim 
had  only  counted  eight,  when  the  last  drop 
was  swallowed,  and  Tommy  asked  with 
a  shudder  when  he  should  have  the  knife. 

"To-night,"  said  Uncle  Jim,  watching 
Tommy  curiously. 

Perhaps  you  have  taken  warm  water, 
with  mustard  in  it.  If  you  have,  you 
know  just  what  happened,  and  why 
Tommy  lay  upon  his  pillow  about  ten 
minutes  afterward,  looking  red  about  the 
eyes,  and  white  about  the  mouth,  but 
feeling  a  great  deal  better. 


44  WHAT    TOMMY    DID. 

"Now,  youngster,"  said  Uncle  Jim, 
"  I'm  going  straight  after  that  knife,  but 
I  shall  not  get  back  till  tea  time,  so  if 
you  go  to  sleep  the  time  will  pass  be 
fore  you  know  it." 

Tommy  did  go  to  sleep,  and  slept  so 
long  his  mother  began  to  worry  again, 
but  by  the  time  Uncle  Jim  came  home, 
a  sturdy  little  voice  shouted  from  the 
bedroom, 

"Uncle  Jim!  where's  my  knife?" 

"Ah!"  said  Uncle  Jim,  "I  believe  I 
have  mistaken  my  profession.  I  should 
have  been  a  doctor." 


CHAPTER  V. 

"  APERIL    FOOL  !  " 

'OMMY  was  mending  his  hobby 
horse.  He  always  mended  it 
^  whenever  he  got  any  nails,  but  it 
y  didn't  seem  to  improve  it  very  much. 
The  trouble  was  in  the  head  and  legs. 
First  the  head  split  off  just  at  the  arch  of 
the  neck.  Hobby-horse's  heads  always 
do  break  off  there.  Uncle  Jim  put  it  on 
with  glue  and  fastened  a  red  leather  col 
lar  over  the  seam.  It  was  very  fine,  and 
the  horse  looked  better  than  ever  ;  but, 
bless  you,  it  didn't  last  any  time  at  all. 
So  Tommy  mended  it,  and,  because  it 


46  WHAT    TOMMY    DID. 

would  keep  tumbling  off,  he  turned  it 
around  and  nailed  it  that  way,  which 
was  just  as  well.  Why  shouldn't  a  horse 
look  over  his  own  shoulders  if  he  chose  ? 
The  fore  legs  gave  out  next,  and  after  a 
good  many  experiments  Tommy  nailed 
them  on  the  sides  of  the  body,  with  some 
nails  he  picked  up  by  Mr.  Hardware's 
scrap  pile.  They  were  large  nails  and 
took  a  good  deal  of  pounding,  but  they 
held  well,  only  of  course  the  fore  legs 
spread  a  trifle  too  much.  Then  the 
hind  legs  broke  off,  and  nobody  could 
make  them  stay  on,  not  even  Uncle 
Jim,  and  at  last  Bridget  burned  them 
up  for  kindling.  After  that  the  horse 
always  looked  as  if  one  end  of  him 
had  sat  down  to  rest,  and  the  other 
end  was  looking  around  to  see  what 
was  the  matter ;  but  Tommy  liked  him 


AFTER  THAT   THE   HORSE   LOOKED  AS   IF  ONE   END  OF 

HIM   HAD   SAT   DOWN  TO  REST. 

Page  46. 


APERIL    FOOL.  47 

just  as  well.  He  played  the  horse  was 
not  sitting  down  behind,  but  rearing 
up  in  front,  and  he  would  saw  at  the 
reins,  and  hold  him  in,  and  say,  "Hey, 
there,  two-forty  / "  just  like  the  men  at 
Billy's  stable.  I  forgot  to  say  that 
Tommy  had  sheared  off  the  horse's  mane 
and  tail  and  put  them  into  the  water- 
trough  to  make  hair  snakes.  Billy's 
mother  said  they'd  turn  into  snakes, 
but  they  never  did.  Well,  Tommy 
was  mending  his  horse.  This  time  it 
was  the  stirrup.  The  strap  was  old, 
and  he  had  just  found  a  splendid  new 
one.  It  was  a  part  of  Uncle  Jim's 
shawl  strap.  Just  as  he  had  the  right 
measure  Billy  came  to  the  alley  gate 
and  called  "H'llo!" 

Tommy    laid  the  strap  on  the    piazza 
and  went  to  see  what  Billy  wanted. 


48  WHAT    TOMMY    DID. 

"  Say,  Tommy,  did  ye  know  it's  April 
Fool  to-morrow?"  whispered  Billy,  mys 
teriously. 

"No.  What  for?"  asked  Tommy, 
greatly  puzzled. 

"  O,  to  fool  fellers,"  said  Billy.  "  You 
put  things  around  for  greenies  to 
pick  up,  and  pin  strips  of  newspa 
pers  on  their  coat-tails ;  but  I'll  tell 
ye  the  best  go.  You  tie  a  string  to 
a  pocket-book,  and  put  it  on  the  side 
walk,  and  hide  behind  the  fence,  and 
when  fellers  go  to  pick  it  up  you  yank 
it  back  and  holler  '  April  Fool ! '  at  'em." 

Tommy  saw  the  joke  and  laughed  a 
little. 

"  You  c'mover  an'  we'll  try  it,"  said 
Billy. 

"  No,"  said  Tommy,  suddenly  grow 
ing  virtuous,  "  I  musn't  'sociate  wid 


APERIL    FOOL.  49 

you,"  and  he  walked  away  from  the 
crestfallen  Billy. 

All  that  day  Tommy  was  meditating 
on  the  mystery  of  "  Aperil  Fool."  He 
quite  forgot  it  at  bed-time,  but  next 
morning,  as  Uncle  Jim  was  looking 
from  the  window  Tommy  heard  him 
laugh  heartily,  and  squeezing  in  before 
him,  saw  a  very  pompous  young  gen 
tleman  strutting  down  the  street  with 
a  long  strip  of  white  cloth  dangling  from 
his  coat,  while  a  couple  of  ragged  news 
boys  danced  and  capered  in  delight. 

u  He's  tored  himself,"  said  Tommy, 
but  just  then  the  cry  of  "April  Fool!" 
rang  out,  and  Tommy  understood. 

While  Uncle  Jim  was  adjusting  his 
gloves,  Tommy  made  a  hurried  search 
in  his  mother's  work-basket,  and  find 
ing  a  whole  piece  of  magic  ruffling, 
4 


5O  WHAT    TOMMY    DID. 

managed  to  secure  the  end  to  a  but 
ton  behind  his  uncle's  coat,  and  had 
the  satisfaction  of  seeing  the  long  white 
ribbon  —  yards  and  yards  of  it  —  flut 
tering  down  town  in  the  rear  of  Uncle 
Jim's  new  spring  suit.  He  was  so  de 
lighted  with  his  first  success  that  he 
forgot  to  say  "  Aperil  Fool ! "  until  it  was 
altogether  too  late,  so  he  turned  his 
attention  to  another  trick.  He  had  no 
pocket-book,  but  there  was  his  pretty 
red  savings  bank,  that  would  do  as 
well,  or  better ;  and  while  mamma  was 
searching  for  her  ruffling  to  finish  baby's 
aprons,  and  wondering  what  had  become 
of  Tommy,  that  young  gentleman  was 
in  the  middle  of  a  tangle  of  lilac,  syr- 
inga  and  arbor-vitae,  holding  fast  to 
one  end  of  his  red  and  white  lines,  and 
wondering  why  somebody  didn't  pick 


APERIL    FOOL.  51 

up  the  bank.  The  lines  lay  like  a  gay 
little  path  across  the  sidewalk,  leading 
through  the  fence  to  the  clump  of  bushes, 
where  Tommy's  eager  face  was  plainly 
visible,  and  the  sell  was  so  transparent 
that  people  passed  it  with  a  laugh.  At 
last  a  big  boy  came  along.  He  had 
his  hands  in  his  pockets  and  was  whis 
tling  "  Shoo  Fly,"  but  when  he  saw  the 
bank  he  stopped,  set  his  ragged  boot 
firmly  on  the  line,  picked  up  the  red 
bank,  with  all  its  jingling  contents,  and 
walked  rapidly  away. 

Tommy  was  so  intent  upon  getting 
ready  to  say  "  Aperil  Fool ! "  that  he 
did  not  comprehend  what  had  hap 
pened  until  the  boy  disappeared,  bank 
and  all,  around  the  corner,  and  then 
he  ran  to  the  gate  screaming, 

"  Bring  it  back !     I    want   my   bank  ! " 


52  WHAT    TOMMY    DID. 

"April  Fool!  April  Fool!"  shouted 
some  boy  across  the  street,  and  Tommy 
ran  sobbing  to  mamma  to  tell  her  the 
sorrowful  story. 

"  Well,"  said  mamma,  "  I'm  sorry 
about  the  bank,  but  if  it  teaches  you 
not  to  play  silly  tricks  again,  I  shall 
be  willing  to  have  you  lose  it.  See 
here,  Tommy,"  and  mamma  lifted  her 
hair  and  showed  him  an  ugly  scar 
just  above  her  temple. 

"  Oh ! "  said  Tommy,  in  a  horrified 
tone,  "  did  a  Injun  scallup  it  wid  his 
choppenhawk  ?" 

"No,"  said  mamma,  "a  boy  did  that; 
a  boy  not  much  bigger  than  you,  who 
wanted  to  play  a  trick  on  April  fool 
day." 

"  I'd  a  shutted  him  in  jail,  if  I'd 
been  there,"  said  Tommy,  fiercely. 


.     APERIL    FOOL.  53 

"  He  tied  a  string  across  the  walk  in 
such  a  way  that  it  lay  on  the  ground, 
but  could  be  tightened  by  pulling  one 
end,  and  then  he  hid  behind  the  fence 
and  waited  for  some  one  to  come 
along.  Two  little  girls  came  by,  chat 
tering  and  skipping,  and  never  looking 
at  the  ground  until,  quick  as  a  flash, 
their  feet  struck  the  string.  One  of 
them  rolled  over  in  a  funny  little  heap 
and  jumped  up  laughing,  but  the  other 
lay  with  her  poor  little  head  on  the 
curb  stone  and  her  blue  eyes  shut  fast, 
as  if  she  had  been  asleep.  She  wasn't 
asleep,  though,  and  when  they  lifted 
her  up,  there  was  blood  on  her  yellow 
curls,  and  running  down  her  white  face. 
Somebody  carried  her  home,  and  the 
little  boy,  who  had  done  all  the  mis 
chief,  followed  after,  crying  all  the  way. 


54  WHAT    TOMMY    DID. 

The  doctor  came  and  shaved  off  the 
pretty  curls,  and  looked  very  grave, 
and  there  were  days  and  days  when 
nobody  could  tell  what  would  be  the 
end  of  it  all." 

Mamma  saw  the  tears  in  Tommy's 
eyes,  so  she  said  gayly,  "  But,  after  all, 
the  little  girl  did  get  well,  and  the 
yellow  curls  grew  out  again,  and  here 
she  is,  this  very  minute,  but  you  may 
be  sure  she  never  wants  her  little  Tom 
my  to  try  any  April  fool  tricks." 

Tommy  drew  a  long  breath  and 
hugged  his  mamma,  saying, 

"  Oh,  you  dear  mamma,  I'm  so  glad 
you  came  here."  Then  he  thought  a 
little  and  added,  "Where  was  you, 
mamma,  'fore  you  came, —  was  you  up 
in  heaven?" 

Mamma   was    having   one    more    hunt 


APERIL   FOOL.  55 

for  the  lost  ruffling,  and  did  not  an 
swer,  so  Tommy  asked  again, 

"  What  do  peoples  sit  on  in  heaven, 
so  'em  won't  fall  frew?  Do  'em  have 
'tones?" 

No  answer,  and  Tommy  walked  away, 
saying, 

"  Guess  I'll  go  and  look  frew  my 
mikerscofe." 


CHAPTER    VI. 

PANTS  ! 

OMETHING  mysterious  was  go 
ing     on.      When     Tommy    came 
into    the    sitting-room    mamma    and 
Uncle    Jim    were    looking    at  some 
thing    by    the    window,  and    he    dis 
tinctly   heard    Uncle    Jim    say, 

"  Very  nice,  especially  the  buttons ; 
don't  you  think  now  you  could  have 
squeezed  in  a  couple  of  dozen  more ; 
a  row  down  the  back  for  instance  ? " 
Then  mamma  laughed,  and  made  be 
lieve  box  Uncle  Jim's  ears,  but  when 


PANTS  57 

Tommy  came   nearer  her  he    could   not 
see    a    thing    to    put    buttons  on. 

That  night,  when  he  climbed  into  his 
crib,  mamma  told  him  that  when  he 
waked  in  the  morning  he  would  find 
something  very  nice  in  the  chair  beside 
it.  He  thought  it  would  be  very  hard 
to  wait  so  long,  but  it  only  seemed  a 
minute  or  so  before  he  waked  up  and 
heard  the  robins  singing  with  all  their 
might  out  in  the  cherry  trees.  Mam 
ma  was  brushing  her  hair,  moving 
about  very  softly,  so  as  not  to  wake 
baby,  and  Tommy  sat  right  up  and 
looked  about  him,  rubbing  his  eyes 
with  his  fat  fists.  Sure  enough,  there 
was  "something"  on  the  chair  where 
he  had  left  his  plaid  dress  'and  rufHed 
panties.  A  new  dress?  No,  not  a 
dress  at  all,  but  the  prettiest  little  suit 


58  WHAT    TOMMY    DID. 

— jacket  and  pants  of  soft,  gray  cloth, 
buttoned  with  shining  pearl  buttons, 
and  trimmed  with  braid.  Tommy  could 
hardly  believe  his  eyes,  but  he  was 
on  the  floor  in  a  twinkle,  laughing  and 
chuckling,  and  trying  to  put  his  pants 
right  on  over  his  long  nightgown. 
Mamma  was  almost  as  much  pleased 
as  Tommy  was,  and  she  helped  the 
little  fellow  to  dress,  and  swung  the 
mirror  back,  that  he  might  see  him 
self  from  head  to  foot. 

"Just  like  a  man,"  giggled  Tommy, 
thrusting  his  hands  into  his  pockets ; 
and  baby  lifted  her  precious  little  head 
from  the  pillow,  and  stared  at  him 
with  her  great,  blue  eyes,  as  if  she 
wondered  who  that  boy  was. 

"  She  don't  know  me,"  said  Tommy, 
in  still  greater  delight.  "  She  won't 


PANTS.  59 

never  have  pants,  will  she  ? "  he  add 
ed,  in  a  tone  that  was  partly  pity 
and  partly  triumph. 

When  he  went  out  to  breakfast, 
Uncle  Jim  pretended  not  to  know  him, 
and  said,  "  Good  morning,  sir !  Very 
fine  weather  we  are  having." 

And  then  he  asked  mamma  if  she 
expected  Tommy  home  pretty  ^oon. 

"  Why,  Uncle  Jim,"  said  Tommy, 
showing  two  great  dimples  in  his  hard, 
red  cheeks,  "fm  Tommy !  Don't  you 
see  I'm  got  pants  ? " 

"  You  Tommy  ?  "  said  Uncle  Jim,  look 
ing  very  much  astonished ;  "  I  should 
think  not ;  you're  a  young  gentleman ; 
Tommy's  a  little  girl,  and  wears  dresses." 

"  I  ain't  never  goin'  to  be  a  girl  any 
more,"  said  Tommy;  "pretty  soon  I'll 
have  boots,  and  long  sleeves  to  my  shirt." 


6O  WHAT    TOMMY    DID. 

Tommy  was  quite  indignant  because 
his  mamma  pinned  a  napkin  around  his 
neck  at  the  table,  but  Uncle  Jim  begged 
her  to  pin  his  napkin  around  his  neck, 
and  informed  Tommy  that  gentlemen 
often  did  so  at  the  restaurants.  So 
Tommy  was  consoled. 

"  I  suppose  you  won't  care  about  eat 
ing  peanuts  and  candy,  any  more,"  said 
Uncle  Jim,  as  he  went  away. 

Tommy  was  walking  about  with  his 
hands  behind  him,  trying  to  make  his 
shoes  squeak.  He  stopped  and  looked 
at  Uncle  Jim,  to  see  if  he  was  in  ear 
nest.  There  was  a  twinkle  in  his  eye 
that  reassured  Tommy,  so  he  went  on 
squeaking  his  shoes,  and  wondering 
what  Billy  would  say  to  him.  He 
determined  to  go  over  immediately  and 
see,  but  mamma  spoiled  that  plan  by 


PANTS.  6 1 

telling  him  not  to  go  outside  the  gate 
on  any  account,  or  do  anything  to  soil 
his  new  clothes,  because  his  papa  was 
coming  home  that  very  morning,  and 
Tommy  must  look  his  best.  Tommy 
forgot  Billy,  and  jumped  around  on  one 
foot  for  joy,  and  wondered  if  his  papa 
would  know  him  in  his  pants  and 
jacket. 

"Maybe  he'll  think  it's  Uncle  Jim," 
said  Tommy  to  himself;  and  then  he 
put  on  his  uncle's  rainy-day  hat,  and 
marched  up  and  down  the  porch.  When 
he  got  tired  of  this,  he  went  into  the 
kitchen  to  see  Bridget,  and  discovered, 
to  his  great  delight,  that  it  was  baking 
day,  and  all  manner  of  nice-looking  and 
nice-smelling  things  were  being  made. 
Generally,  Bridget  sent  him  out  of  the 
kitchen  quick  as  a  wink,  but  to-day 


62  WHAT    TOMMY    DID. 

she  was  pleased  with  his  new  clothes, 
and  she  was  going  to  ride  with  her 
cousin  in  the  afternoon,  so  she  said, 

"  La  sakes !  just  to  look  at  the  fine 
young  gentleman  !  An'  would  you  be 
plazed  to  take  a  sate,  sir?" 

Tommy  giggled,  and  sat  down  in  the 
chair  by  the  end  of  Bridget's  table. 
He  sat  very  still  for  a  few  minutes, 
watching  Bridget's  bare,  red  arms,  as 
she  beat  the  eggs  for  a  plum  pudding. 

"O  Bridget!"  he  said,  suddenly, "you're 
got  holes  in  your  elabows."  Then 
Bridget  laughed  till  she  got  two  more 
holes  right  in  the  middle  of  her  round, 
fat  cheeks. 

After  a  while  Tommy  forgot  about 
being  a  gentleman,  and  began  to  tease 
Bridget  for  raisins,  and  currants,  and 
bits  of  citron,  and  tastes  of  jelly,  and 


PANTS.  63 

lumps  of  sugar.  He  put  the  nutmeg 
grater  in  his  pocket,  and  at  last,  in  lean 
ing  upon  the  table  to  see  just  how 
Bridget  made  the  scallops  on  the  pies, 
he  managed  to  plant  his  elbow  right 
in  the  middle  of  a  cranberry  pie  all 
ready  for  the  oven.  Tommy  screamed 
and  so  did  Bridget — Tommy  in  dismay, 
and  Bridget  in  anger,  which  only  made 
matters  worse,  as  anger  always  does ; 
for  when  Bridget  jerked  Tommy  up 
from  the  table  with  a  shake  that  landed 
him  on  his  feet  in  the  chair,  he  staggered 
and  tottered,  and  fell  over  backward, 
plump  into  the  great  bread  pan,  which 
stood  there  full  to  the  brim  with  a 
mountain  of  white,  puffy  dough.  O  dear ! 
but  that  was  a  fix  to  be  in !  and  by 
the  time  Bridget  had  pulled  Tommy  out 
with  her  floury  hands,  rubbed  his  elbow 


64  WHAT    TOMMY    DID. 

with  a  towel,  and  scraped  his  pants 
with  a  big  knife,  you  may  be  sure  the 
new  clothes  were  a  sight  to  see. 

Mamma  thought  she  should  cry,  at 
first,  it  was  such  a  disappointment,  you 
see  ;  but  one  look  at  Tommy's  miserable 
face  made  her  so  sorry  for  her  poor, 
little  man,  that  she  comforted  him  very 
bravely,  washed  his  sticky  hands,  and 
let  him  keep  on  his  pants,  though  they 
did  look  funny  behind,  especially  when 
they  came  to  dry,  as  if  Tommy  had 
been  pasted  up  somewhere,  and  just 
broken  loose. 

Tommy  went  out  into  the  yard  again, 
and  Lion,  the  big  dog,  got  up  from  his 
rug  by  the  door  and  came  smelling 
around  him,  as  if  he  suspected  a  strange 
boy  had  come  into  the  yard.  He  didn't 
seem  to  approve  of  the  new  clothes  at 


PANTS.  65 

all,  for  he  went  back  to  his  rug  with  a 
growl  of  disgust,  which  amused  Tommy 
very  much.  He  followed  Lion  and 
curled  himself  up  beside  him,  and  laid 
his  head  on  his  shaggy  side. 

"  Are  you  tired,  Tommy  ? "  asked  his 
mamma,  looking  out  at  the  window. 

"  O  no,"  said  Tommy ;  "  I'm  just  a 
finkin." 

It  was  very  warm  and  sunny,  so  Tom 
my's  mamma  let  him  keep  on  "  fin  kin" 
and  when  his  papa  came  home  he  found 
him  there  fast  asleep. 

Perhaps  you  think  that  was  enough 
for  one  week,  but  it  wasn't,  for  Tommy's 
papa  brought  him  a  music  box  that 
would  play  three  tunes,  and  a  set  of 
toy  horsemen  that  rode  up  and  down  to 
the  tune  of  "  Captain  Jinks,"  when  you 
turned  the  handle  of  the  box  they  stood 

5 


66  WHAT    TOMMY    DID. 

upon,  so  of  course  he  had  to  go  over 
after  dinner  to  show  his  treasures  and 
his  new  clothes  to  Billy.  The  result  was 
dreadfully  disappointing,  so  far  as  the 
new  clothes  were  concerned,  for  that 
young  gentleman  sniffed  up  his  nose  at 
them  in  decided  disapproval. 

"Ho!"  said  Billy,  "they're  most  like 
a  girl ;  only  come  to  your  knees,  and  no 
galluses.  I  don't  have  my  clothes  that 
way." 

Tommy  stared  with  his  big  eyes,  and 
wondered  what  "galluses"  might  be,  but 
had  not  a  doubt  that  there  was  but  one 
proper  way  to  make  clothes,  and  that 
was  just  like  Billy's.  Now  Billy's  mam 
ma  never  troubled  herself  about  the 
spring  fashions,  or  any  other  fashions. 
She  had  half  a  dozen  boys,  and  when 
the  older  ones  out-grew  their  clothes, 


PANTS.  67 

she  just  cut  off  the  legs  a  little,  patched 
the  knees  and  elbows,  and  passed  them 
on  down  the  row.  Billy's  present  pants 
happened  to  be  a  little  long,  and  a  little 
baggy,  but  that  was  a  fault  time  would 
remedy ;  so  after  inspecting  them  a 
moment,  Tommy  unbuckled  his  little 
trousers  at  the  knee,  and  stretched  and 
smoothed  them  down  over  his  scarlet 
stockings.  It  was  no  use ;  at  the  very 
best  they  would  not  reach  his  ankles. 

"  Tell  ye  what,"  said  Billy,  "  if  ye  had 
some  galluses  them  pants  would  reach 
down." 

"  Y-e-s,"  said  Tommy,  in  bewilderment. 

The  inventive  Billy  went  directly  to 
work,  and  manufactured  a  pair  of  sus 
penders  out  of  some  old  red  reins.  The 
short  trousers  were  unbuttoned  from 
the  jacket  and  let  down  to  a  desirable 


68  WHAT    TOMMY    DID. 

length,  the  "  galluses  "  fastened  on  with 
pins  and  twine,  and  then  Billy  surveyed 
his  work  with  triumph. 

To  be  sure,  there  was  a  noticeable 
gap  between  the  top  of  the  trousers 
and  the  bottom  of  the  jacket,  but  the 
red  suspenders  bridged  it  over,  and  Billy 
remembered  to  have  seen  the  same  lack 
upon  Jake,  the  hostler,  so  both  boys 
were  satisfied. 

"  There,  now,"  said  Billy ;  "  now  you 
look  something  like." 

He  didn't  say  like  what,  and  Tommy 
didn't  ask ;  but  they  played  with  the 
soldiers  till  Ellen  rung  the  bell  for  tea. 
Then  papa  and  mamma,  looking  out  at 
the  parlor  window,  saw  a  funny  little 
figure  coming  across  the  yard,  with  gray 
trousers  dragging  over  its  feet,  red  sus 
penders  stretching  down  in  front  across 


FIXING  THE  GALLUSES. 


Page  68. 


PANTS.  69 

a  puff  of  plaid  flannel  shirt,  and  a  gay 
little  plaid  banner  streaming  bravely  out 
in  the  rear.  Tommy's  papa  laughed  and 
shouted,  and  felt  like  rolling  on  the 
floor,  and  he  called  Uncle  Jim  and  he 
laughed,  too  ;  but  though  Tommy  went 
to  the  window  the  minute  he  got  in.  to 

o 

see  what  the  fun  was,  he  couldn't  see 
anything  at  all. 


CHAPTER   VII. 

TOMMY    AT    SCHOOL. 

iOMMY'S  mamma  was  feeding  her 
canary.  In  one  hand  she  held  a 
bunch  of  fresh,  green  chickweed, 
just  gathered  from  the  corner  of  the 
garden,  and  with  the  other  hand  she 
was  pushing  the  little  tender  sprigs 
through  the  bars  of  the  cage.  The 
canary  sat  in  his  ring,  turning  his  pretty 
yellow  head  from  side  to  side,  and  now 
and  then  picking  daintily  at  the  tiny 
buds  and  leaves.  Tommy  was  standing 
by  the  door,  dressed  in  a  clean  suit  of 


TOMMY    AT    SCHOOL.  Jl 

buff  linen,  and  he  looked  a  good  deal 
like  a  canary  bird  himself,  with  his 
bright,  round  eyes,  and  his  yellow  curls 
all  smooth  and  glossy.  Somebody  came 
in  at  the  gate.  It  was  Callie  Trumbull, 
on  her  way  to  school.  Callie  looked 
very  nice,  too,  in  her  pink  gingham  frock 
and  white  apron,  with  fluted  ruffles ;  and 
the  minute  she  saw  Tommy  she  ex 
claimed, 

"  O  Tommy  Bancroft !  you  do  look 
too  lovely  in  that  suit.  I  just  wish  I 
could  take  you  to  school." 

Tommy's  mamma  looked  around  and 
smiled  at  Callie,  and  Callie  looked  at 
her  so  beseechingly,  that  when  she 
said,  "  Do,  please,  let  me  take  him," 
mamma  hesitated  a  minute  and  then 
said, 

u  Well,  I  don't  know  as  I  care,  if  you 


72  WHAT    TOMMY    DID. 

will  be  very  careful  about  the  crossings, 
and  lead  him  all  the  way  home." 

Callie  promised  very  eagerly,  and 
Tommy  was  too  much  delighted  with 
the  prospect  of  going  to  school  to  care 
much  about  the  conditions.  So  his 
mamma  got  out  his  straw  cap,  with  its 
band  of  green  velvet,  put  a  clean  hand 
kerchief  and  a  scalloped  cooky  in  his 
pocket,  and  then  kissed  him  on  both 
cheeks,  for  goodbye. 

"  Be  a  good  boy,  Tommy,"  she  said  ; 
"sit  still  in  your  seat,  and  don't  talk 
out  loud." 

"  O,  I  know,"  said  Tommy ;  "  we've 
played  school  lots  of  times,  me  and 
Billy ;  it's  most  like  goin'  to  church, 
'cept  that  the  minister  whips  'em  if 
they  don't  say  their  Sunday-school  les 


son." 


TOMMY    AT    SCHOOL.  73 

"O,  Mrs.  Bancroft,"  laughed  Gallic, 
"isn't  he  too  funny?" 

Baby  toddled  to  the  door,  and  reached 
her  fat,  little  hands  after  Tommy,  and 
Tommy  felt  very  grand,  as  he  walked 
away  just  like  a  man,  and  left  mamma 
and  little  Tot  behind. 

Gallic  and  he  got  along  very  nicely 
until  they  reached  the  schoolhouse  yard, 
when  a  whole  troop  of  girls  rushed  out 
and  swarmed  around  them  like  so  many 
bees. 

"  O,  what  pretty  curls !  O,  isn't  he 
sweet  ?  Is  he  going  in  your  room, 
Gallic  ?  O,  let  me  have  him  till  recess, 
and  I'll  give  you  half  a  stick  of  gum." 
So  they  chattered,  and  exclaimed,  and 
kissed  poor  Tommy,  and  pulled  him 
about,  till  he  wished  in  his  heart  that 
he  was  safe  home  again. 


74  WHAT    TOMMY    DID. 

"  He's  going  with  me,"  said  Callie, 
decidedly ;  "I'm  to  take  care  of  him 
every  blessed  minute,  because  I  promised 
his  mamma.  Come,  Tommy ; "  and 
Callie  led  him  bravely  through  the 
crowd  toward  the  steps.  Four  boys 
were  playing  marbles  close  by  the  steps, 
and  one  of  them  looked  up  at  Tommy 
and  said, 

"  Hullo !  here's  a  new  girl  come  to 
school.  How  de  do,  sis?" 

"  What  cunning  little  shoes ;  and  what 
pretty  curls  she  has  got,"  said  another 
boy,  teasingly. 

Tommy's  heart  was  full  of  indigna 
tion,  and,  for  the  first  time,  he  felt 
ashamed  of  his  buttoned  gaiters,  and 
wished  he  could  change  his  glossy  curls 
for  the  stubby  black  hair  of  the  boy 
who  laughed  at  him.  Callie  gave  the 


TOMMY    AT    SCHOOL.  75 

boy  a  glance  of  contempt.  She  didn't 
care  a  bit  what  Doc.  Flynn  said  —  a 
great,  big  fellow,  ten  years  old,  that 
read  in  the  first  reader,  and  couldn't 
spell  "biscuit? 

The  bell  rang  just  as  they  were  going 
up,  and  Tommy  was  nearly  crushed  in 
the  rush  for  the  door  ;  but  Callie  held 
him  up  and  jerked  him  along,  and, 
though  a  boy  twitched  one  of  his  curls, 
he  shut  his  lips  bravely,  and  didn't  cry. 
In  a  minute  more  they  were  in  the 
schoolroom,  and  Callie  gave  Tommy  a 
seat  beside  her,  where  he  began  at 
once  to  look  around  and  feel  more  com 
fortable. 

He  liked  the  looks  of  the  schoolroom 
pretty  well.  There  were  bright-colored 
maps  on  the  walls,  and  a  long  black 
board  at  one  end,  with  some  queer 


76  WHAT    TOMMY    DID. 

marks  on  it.  The  teacher  was  a  very 
pleasant  young  lady,  with  a  funny  kind 
of  spectacles  fastened  to  a  ribbon  at 
her  belt,  which  she  perched  occasion 
ally  on  her  nose  in  a  way  that  looked 
to  Tommy  decidedly  uncomfortable.  He 
could  not  see  what  made  them  stay  on, 
and  began  to  get  quite  nervous  about 
it,  when,  all  at  once,  a  little  bell  tin 
kled,  and  Callie's  class  was  called  up  to 
read. 

"  You  sit  still,"  she  whispered  to 
Tommy;  and  Tommy  said  "Yes,"  right 
out  loud,  which  made  Callie  blush  as 
red  as  a  rose. 

When  the  class  stood  up  they  quite 
hid  Tommy,  and  a  boy  right  opposite 
him  leaned  across  the  passage  way  and 
whispered  slyly, 

"Settin'   with   the   girls!" 


TOMMY    AT    SCHOOL.  77 

The  taunt  was  thrown  away,  for  it 
never  had  entered  into  Tommy's  inno 
cent  little  head  that  it  was  not  nice, 
to  sit  with  the  girls.  So  the  boy  tried 
another  line.  He  began  to  make  funny 
pictures  on  his  slate,  and  show  them 
to  Tommy.  There  was  a  pig  smoking 
a  pipe,  and  a  goose  with  a  hat  on  ; 
and  when  Tommy  saw  them  he  laughed 
out  quite  heartily.  The  boy  looked  very 
sober,  and  the  teacher  came  and  patted 
Tommy's  head,  and  said, 

"  Keep   still,  little    boy." 

As  soon  as  she  was  away,  the  boy 
took  a  handful  of  marbles  from  his 
pocket  and  showed  them  to  Tommy, 
and  Tommy  got  right  up  and  walked 
over  to  his  seat.  The  teacher  put  on 
her  spectacles  and  looked  at  them  a 
minute,  and  then  went  on  hearing  the 


78  WHAT    TOMMY    DID. 

class.  When  Gallic  went  back  to  her 
seat  she  was  greatly  distressed,  and  tried 
to  get  Tommy  back,  but  the  young 
gentleman  was  very  well  contented,  and 
the  teacher  bade  her  let  him  alone. 
The  boy  gave  Tommy  a  piece  of  red 
crayon,  and  let  him  paint  the  pictures  in 
his  reader,  and  when  his  class  was  called 
he  seized  Tommy  by  the  hand  and 
marched  him  along.  Now  Tommy  could 
n't  read  the  least  bit,  any  more  than 
his  mother's  canary,  but  Billy  always 
told  him  that  it  was  because  he  had 
never  been  to  school,  so  Tommy  stood 
up  in  the  class,  and  took  hold  of  the 
corner  of  Bubby  Steele's  reader,  fully 
expecting  that  now  he  was  going  to 
read.  There  was  a  picture  of  a  boy 
riding  on  a  pony,  and  Tommy  looked 
at  the  pictures  very  hard  while  the 


TOMMY    AT    SCHOOL.  79 

boys  read.  When  it  came  Bubby 
Steele's  turn  he  spoke  up  very  loud, 
and  said, 

"One  fine  day  George  got  on  his 
pony  to  ride  a  few  miles  into  the  country, 
to  visit  his  Cousin  Charles.  His  cousin 
lived  in  a  large  farmhouse  —  " 

"Next!"  said  the  teacher,  and  Tommy 
began  to  read  as  loud  and  as  fast  as 
he  could,  and  this  was  what  he  said, 

"  It  wasn't  his  Cousin  Charles,  it  was 
his  gramma,  and  she  has  sticks  to  her 
spetacles  to  stick  over  her  ears ;  and 
she  gave  me  two  red  apples  and  a 
doughnut,  and  the  pony  runned  away 
'cause  a  turkey  gobbler  gobbled  at  him, 
and  the  boy  wasn't  'fraid  'tall ;  and  that's 
the  end  of  it." 

You  see,  Tommy  thought  the  boys 
were  just  making  up  stories  about  the 


8O  WHAT    TOMMY    DID. 

picture,  as  he  sometimes  did  with  his 
rhyme  book.  The  boys  all  laughed, 
and  so  did  the  teacher,  and  she  told 
Tommy  that  would  do  very  well  for 
the  first  time.  Then  they  went  on  read 
ing,  and  Tommy  watched  the  teacher's 
spectacles  until,  all  at  once,  he  said, 
suddenly, 

"  I  sh'd  think  they'd  pinch  your  nose 
that  way ;  try  'em  on  me,  will  you  ? " 

Then  they  laughed  again,  and,  after 
that  Tommy  went  back  to  the  seat  with 
Bubby  Steele,  and  traded  his  cooky  for 
half  of  a  pair  of  broken  scissors,  and 
tried  to  chew  rosin  until  his  little  white 
teeth  were  all  gummed  up  ;  and  insisted 
on  going  out  to  play  with  the  boys 
at  recess,  and  came  in  with  grass  stains 

on    both  knees,  and    the  ruffle  torn  half 

• 

off  from    his    collar.       Poor    Callie    was 


TOMMY    AT   SCHOOL.  8 1 

as  miserable  as  she  could  be,  at  the 
thought  of  taking  him  home  in  such  a 
plight,  and  actually  planned  to  take 
him  to  the  gate,  and  then  run  away. 

After  recess  he  sat  with  another  boy, 
who  wanted  Tommy's  little  handker 
chief  for  the  sail  of  a  ship  which  he 
had  smuggled  away  in  his  desk,  and 
Tommy  sold  it  to  him  for  a  bottle  of 
red  ink,  made  out  of  pokeberry  juice. 
He  put  the  bottle  in  his  breast  pocket, 
and,  as  it  was  only  corked  with  paper, 
of  course  the  ink  leaked  out,  and 
made  him  look  as  if  he  had  been 
shot  through  the  heart. 

Half  an  hour  before  school  was  out, 
he  shut  up  a  great,  clumsy  jack  knife 
on  one  of  his  soft,  little  fingers,  and 
frightened  the  teacher  so  that  she 

dropped  her  spectacles,  and  poor  Callie 
6 


82  WHAT    TOMMY    DID. 

stood  by,  crying  louder  than  Tommy 
did  while  the  unlucky  finger  was  bound 
up.  Then  the  teacher  said  Callie  had 
better  take  Tommy  home ;  and  a  very 
forlorn  couple  they  were,  when  they 
presented  themselves  to  Mrs.  Bancroft. 

"  O,  my  poor  child!"  screamed  mam 
ma,  "  what  has  happened  to  him  ? " 

At  this  both  the  children  began  cry 
ing  louder  than  ever. 

"  O,  dear,  dear ! "  said  mamma,  half 
distracted  at  the  red  stains,  and  the  torn 
clothes,  and  the  bandaged  hand ;  "  O, 
Tommy,  what  is  it  ?  are  you  killed  ? " 

"  Course  I  ain't  killed,"  said  Tommy, 
"  nelse  I  couldn't  scream.  I  cutted  my 
finger  wid  a  boy's  knife,  and  that  ain't 
bleed  on  my  jacket,  only  but  red  ink, 
and  I've  got  a  whole  bottleful." 

By   this   time   Tommy  was    in   pretty 


TOMMY    AT    SCHOOL.  83 

good  spirits.  Gallic  managed  to  tell 
her  story,  and  mamma  was  so  much 
relieved,  she  told  her  not  to  feel  badly 
about  it,  but  she  guessed  Tommy  was 
too  little  to  go  to  school. 

When  Tommy  was  sitting  at  dinner, 
all  sweet  and  clean  again,  his  papa 
asked  him  how  he  liked  school. 

Tommy  looked  very  thoughtful,  as  he 
said, 

"  I  didn't  like  it  pretty  much,  'cause 
my  red  ink  didn't  have  any  stopper, 
and  it  made  me  too  tired  to  study." 


CHAPTER   VIII. 


MORE    MISCHIEF. 

HE  day  began  beautifully.  When 
mamma  and  Aunt  Louise  peeped 
in  at  the  sitting-room  door,  they 
saw  Tommy  and  his  cousin  Lu,  just 
as  sweet  and  clean  as  two  pinks,  with 
their  heads  close  together  over  the  ele 
phant  book,  while  Robert  was  telling 
them  the  stories.  I'm  afraid  Robert 
was  not  quite  particular  to  tell  them 
according  to  the  book,  but  they  were 
very  funny,  at  any  rate,  and  mamma 
said, 


MORE    MISCHIEF.  85 

"  That's  right,  Robert ;  you  look  after 
the  children  a  little,  and  tell  Ellen  to 
see  that  they  keep  their  clothes  clean. 
We  shall  be  back  by  lunch  time." 

It  seems  strange,  but  it  is  perfectly 
true,  that  the  moment  Robert  was  set 
to  amusing  the  children,  he  began  to 
find  it  hard  work,  and  remembered  at 
least  six  different  things  that  he  was 
anxious  to  finish.  So  first  he  went  to 
the  window  and  whistled,  then  he  took 
all  the  things  out  of  his  pocket  and 
looked  them  over,  and  finally  he  went 
out  doors,  telling  the  children  to  stay 
there  till  he  came  back,  and  that  was 
the  last  he  remembered  about  them 
until  noon.  They  got  on  very  well  at 
first.  Lu  told  the  stories.  This  is  the 
way  she  told  them, 

"  That's    a   corkadiul ;    he's    swimmin' 


86  WHAT    TOMMY    DID. 

in  de  mud.  Corkadiuls  is  a-w-ful ;  they 
eat  up  little  heevun  babies  'at  won't 
say  dey  prayers,  an'  de  chillen  to  my 
Sunday  school  we  buy  some  mishnaries 
wid  our  pennies  to  shoot  'em  wid." 

"  Le's  punch  that  old  corkadiul,"  said 
Tommy ;  and  so  they  punched  him  till 
they  made  a  hole  through  his  head. 
Then  they  turned  over  the  leaf. 

"  That's  a  lelliphant's  nest,  I  b'lieve 
so,  and  that's  a  norstrige ;  he's  a  goin' 
to  eat  up  de  eggs,  an'  de  men  is  chasin' 
*'  him  to  fly  him  away  from  'em.  Dose 
kind  of  horses  is  to  catch  Herns  wid; 
dere  backs  hump  up  so  people  can  hold 
on  better." 

"  Le's  punch  de  -old  horstige,"  said 
Tommy;  and  so  they  punched  him  until 
there  was  nothing  left  but  the  tail  and 
one  leg. 


THAT'S   A   LELLIPHANT'S   NEST,   I'  B'LIEVE   SO." 

Page  '86. 


MORE    MISCHIEF.  87 

After  that  they  put  the  book  away 
and  played  hunt  lions.  Lu  was  the 
lion ;  she  carried  off  Captain  Jinks 
between  her  teeth,  and  shook  him  un 
til  his  head  rolled  off,  growling  fear 
fully  all  the  time.  And  Tommy  rode 
after  her  upon  the  poker,  and  rescued 
Captain  Jinks,  and  screwed  his  head  on 
again. 

"  Le's  go  up  in  my  Uncle  Jim's  room," 
said  Tommy,  "  he's  got  a  truly  sword 
and  a  knappersack,  and  he  don't  care  if 
I  take  'em,  I  maybe." 

"  Well,"  said  Lu,  and  up  they  went. 
They  couldn't  reach  the  sword,  which 
was  fortunate,  but  the  "  knappersack," 
which  happened  to  be  a  haversack,  was 
put  on,  and  the  canteen  filled  with  bay- 
rum  and  hair  oil. 

"  Here's   a  sword,"  said   Lu,  pouncing 


88  WHAT    TOMMY    DID. 

upon  Uncle  Jim's  precious  razor  strop, 
"  if  you  only  had  a  belt." 

"  Here's  Uncle  Jim's  bellit,"  said  Tom 
my,  dragging  an  elegant  sash  from  a 
drawer. 

"I  want  that,"  said  Lu,  "it's  most  like 
mamma's ;  play  I  was  a  lady  *  goin'  to 
a  party." 

"  No,"  said  Tommy,  "  I  want  it ;  it's 
my  bellit."  Lu  gave  it  up,  for  just  then 
she  spied  a  box  full  of  neck  ties,  and 
sat  down  to  try  them  on  her  doll.  The 
long  ones  made  lovely  sashes,  and  Lu 
tied  and  untied  them  with  great  satis 
faction,  while  Tommy  paraded  up  and 
down,  the  ends  of  the  long  crimson  sash 
trailing  magnificently  behind  him.  Pres 
ently  the  razor  strop  suggested  a  new  idea. 

"  Goin'  to  shave,"  said  Tommy,  push 
ing  a  chair  to  the  bureau. 


MORE    MISCHIEF.  89 

Lu  was  at  the  wash-stand  by  that 
time  turning  on  the  hot  water  to  give 
her  dolly  a  "  bath-ing."  Tommy  found 
the  cup  of  creamy  soap,  and  the  soft 
brush  with -its  ivory  handle. 

"  Uncle  Jim  let's  me  take  'em,"  he 
said  complacently,  and  Uncle  Jim  really 
did  sometimes ;  and  then  with  a  little 
tremor  of  his  hands,  he  took  the  keen 
razor  from  its  box  and  laid  it  down. 

"  Coin'  to  shave  me  some  whiskers, 
like  Uncle  Jim,"  he  said,  rubbing  the 
soap  to  a  white  froth,  and  climbing  with 
dripping  hands  upon  the  bureau  to 
bring  his  face  close  to  the  glass.  Then 
he  brushed  the  lather  over  his  cheeks 
and  chin;  how  funny  he  looked!  Across 
his  nose  and  his  upper  lip  ;  Tommy  had 
to  stop  to  laugh  ;  then  a  little  more  on 
his  cheeks,  and  some  on  his  forehead. 


90  WHAT    TOMMY    DID. 

He  nearly  forgot  the  razor,  but  by  and 
by  he  picked  it  up  very  cautiously, 
grasped  his  slippery  nose  between  his 
slippery  thumb  and  finger,  and  looked 
quizzically  into  the  glass. 

Just  about  this  time  it  occurred  to 
Ellen  that  the  children  were  unusually 
quiet. 

"  They're  dead  sure  to  be  in  mischief," 
she  said,  putting  down  the  baby  and  hur 
rying  up  stairs.  No  one  in  the  sitting- 
room,  but  she  could  hear  Lu  singing 
her  last  Sunday-school  song : 

"Oh,  I'll  be  a  good  child,  as  ever  I  can  be, 
I'll  mind  what  my  teacher  says  to  me." 

Following  the  voice  she  came  in  just 
as  Lu  had  champooed  the  last  hair 
from  dolly^s  head  with  Uncle  Jim's 
tooth  brush,  and  Tommy  was  preparing 
for  the  first  sweep  of  his  razor.  His 


COIN'   TO   SHAVE   ME   SOME  WHISKERS,   LIKE  UNCLE 

JIM." 

Page  90. 


MORE    MISCHIEF.  9 1 

back  was  towards  the  door,  but  he  saw 
Ellen's  horrified  face  in  the  glass,  and 
the  razor  dropped  from  his  hand.  It 
might  have  sliced  his  poor  little  nose 
off,  but  it  only  grazed  his  fat  cheek, 
so  that  the  white  lather  was  stained  with 
blood.  Tommy  and  Ellen  shrieked  to 
gether,  and  Lu  added  her  voice  to  the 
chorus.  But  when  Ellen  found  there 
was  no  serious  harm  done,  her  fright 
gave  way  to  anger,  and  she  shut  both 
the  children  into  the  closet,  while  she 
did  her  best  to  repair  the  mischief  by 
putting  the  wet  razor  into  a  glove  box, 
'and  "rinsing  off  the  illegant  sash"  in 
the  wash  bowl. 

When  mamma  came  home  she  was 
dreadfully  distressed  about  it  all. 

"  O  dear,  Tommy,"  she  said,  "  what 
does  make  you  so  naughty  ?  " 


Q2  WHAT    TOMMY    DID. 

"  God  do,"  said  Tommy,  gravely ; 
"  makes  everyfinV 

"  No,"  said  mamma,  "  it  is  naughty  lit 
tle  Tommy  himself,  and  he  makes  his 
mamma's  heart  ache." 

Tommy  looked  very  sad,  and  promised 
heartily  to  do  better. 

When  papa  came  home  he  took  him 
on  his  lap,  and  asked,  just  as  he  al 
ways  did, 

"  Has  my  little  boy  been  good  to-day?" 

And  Tommy  said,  very  honestly, 

"  No,  papa,  I  was  awful  much  naugh 
ty,  and  made  my  mamma's  stomach 
ache." 


CHAPTER   IX. 


LITTLE    RUNAWAY. 


OMMY  was  in  the  country.     The 
regular  country,  with   up  hill  and 


down,  where  there  are  pastures  with 
wild  strawberries,  and  orchards  with 
robins'  nests  in  the  trees. 

Papa  was  there,  too,  and  mamma,  and 
Aunt  Louise,  and  little  Lu ;  and  Lu 
had  her  dog  Pedro,  that  knew  almost 
as  much  as  a  boy. 

"  Such  a  safe  place  for  Tommy,"  said 
mamma,  rocking  contentedly,  and  fold 
ing  the  tenth  tuck  in  baby's  new  dress. 
41  I  don't  worry  a  mite  about  him ;  no 


94  WHAT    TOMMY    DID. 

lake  to  drown  him,  no  cars  or  carriages 
to  run  over  him,  no  bad  company  for 
him  to  get  into.  I  am  just  taking  solid 
comfort." 

All  the  time  Tommy  and  Lu  were 
chasing  the  lame  turkey  around  the  barn 
yard,  penning  up  a  toad  in  the  pump 
spout,  painting  stripes  on  the  kitten 
with  some  green  paint  they  found  in 
the  cellar,  and  having  a  good  time  gen 
erally.  Then  they  got  some  cookies 
and  swung  on  the  gate,  eating  them. 

"  Wish  my  papa  would  come,"  said 
Lu.  "  My  papa's  going  to  bring  me  a 
new  dolly." 

"  Wish  my  papa'd  come,"  echoed  Tom 
my.  "  Le's  go  way  up  top  tip  of  the 
house,  and  look  wa-ay  off,  ever  so  miles, 


an'  see  'em  come." 


Patter,    patter    went    the    little    feet, 


LITTLE    RUNAWAY.  95 

through  the  hall  and  up  stairs,  and  pat, 
pat  came  Pedro,  running  after. 

Up  in  the  garret  was  a  queer,  spicy 
smell  from  the  catnip,  and  spearmint, 
and  boneset,  drying  on  papers  under 
the  eaves.  A  wasp  that  had  found  his 
way  in  at  some  chink  was  buzzing  spite 
fully  at  the  window,  and  a  few  great, 
stupid  flies  crawled  slowly  up  the  slip 
pery  panes  and  tumbled  down  again. 
Lu  wouldn't  go  to  the  window ;  she  was 
afraid  of  wasps ;  so  they  looked  for 
something  to  play  with.  First  Tommy 
was  a  'spressman,  and  drove  away  with 
a  mountain  of  trunks,  and  a  little  old 
Testament  in  his  pocket  for  a  "member- 
andel  book."  Then  he  was  a  doctor, 
and  brewed  some  famous  tea  for  Lu, 
mixing  the  herbs  all  together  in  a  red 
bandbox.  When  they  were  tired  of  this 


96  WHAT    TOMMY    DID. 

they  went  down  again,  and  looked  out 
at  the  window  by  the  landing  of  the 
stairs.  That  was  a  pleasant  window. 
The  cool,  sweet  wind  came  in  from  away 
over  the  hills,  and  they  could  see  the 
crooked  road  along  which  Tommy's  papa 
and  Lu's  papa  came  riding  every  night, 
with  such  pockets  for  little  fingers  to 
explore.  Tommy  and  Lu  looked  out, 
and  Pedro  put  his  paws  up  on  the  broad 
sill  and  looked  out  too,  with  a  wise  little 
wrinkle  on  his  black  nose,  and  one  ear 
cocked  up. 

"  I  see  'em,"  said  Lu,  eagerly,  "  way, 
way  off!"  * 

il  Where  ? "  said  Tommy,  crowding 
close.  "  O,  I  see ;  one  is  my  papa  and 
another  lady." 

"  It's  my  papa,  and  a  lady,"  said  Lu, 
slowly  but  positively,  as  she  decided 


LITTLE    RUNAWAY.  97 

that  one  of  the  travelers  in  the  distance 
was  not  a  man.  A  little  later  she  saw 
with  disgust,  that  the  one  man  was  fat 
old  Deacon  Giles,  who  took  off  his  hat 
to  wipe  his  bald  head  as  he  drove  by. 

"  Tain't  my  papa,"  said  Lu,  provok- 
ingly. 

tl  'Ain't  my  papa,"  said  Tommy,  prompt 
ly  ;  "  my  papa's  got  a  top  on  his  head." 

No  one  else  came  along  the  crooked 
road,  and  the  children  grew  tired  of 
waiting. 

"  Mean  to  go  and  meet  my  papa," 
said  Tommy  ;  "  I'm  awful  lonstum,  stayin' 
here  so  much." 

Lu  didn't  say  anything.  She  had 
been  expressly  forbidden  to  go  beyond 
the  yard  with  her  blue  shoes  on  ;  but 
Tommy  ran.  up  and  down  the  road  at 
pleasure,  and  she  felt  as  if  it  would 
7 


98  WHAT    TOMMY    DID. 

somehow  hasten  matters  if  Tommy  went 
to  meet  papa  and  the  dolly. 

"Papa  '11  be  glad,"  said  Tommy. 
"  He'll  tight  up  the  lines,  and  say, 
"  Where  did  yoit,  been  ?  " 

"  Well,"  said  Lu,  "  I'll  stay  here  and 
watch." 

"  My  papa'll  be  glad,"  said  Tommy, 
holding  a  little  argument  with  his  con 
science.  "He'll  say,  'where  did  you 
been?'  and  I'll  put  my  arms  around  his 
neck,  and  hug  him  dest  as  tight,  and 
I'll  say,  "oh  my  per-cscioits  papa,  has 
you  got  any  peanuts  in  your  pocket  ?r 
An'  papa'll  say,  'Feel  in  my  pocket?  An' 
what  ye  s'pose'll  be  in  the  paper?  You 
s'pose  peanuts  ?  " 

By  this  time  Tommy  was  trotting 
down  stairs.  Pedro  ran  after  him  a  few 
steps,  then  stopped  and  sniffed  in  a 


LITTLE    RUNAWAY.  99 

puzzled  way,  but  finally  went  back  to 
Lu  at  the  window.  Mamma  glanced  up 
from  her  sewing  to  see  a  little  bare 
headed  figure  go  past  the  door.  Ellen 
stopped  in  the  middle  of  a  story  she 
was  telling  Nora  about  her  ride  with 
the  grocer's  young  man,  to  see  the 
same  little  figure  march  out  at  the  back 
gate,  and  then  mamma  and  Ellen  forgot 
all  about  it.  Lu  at  her  window  watched 
and  watched.  She  saw  the  bare  head 
go  bobbing  down  the  first  hill,  then 
disappear  for  a  while  and  go  creeping  up 
the  next  one,  looking  less  like  a  bare 
head  and  more  like  a  gray  speck.  Then 
it  disappeared  again,  and  though  Lu 
watched  and  watched,  it  did  not  come 
in  sight  So  she  curled  herself  up  in 
one  corner  and  shut  her  eyes.  Pedro, 
seated  on  his  curly  tail,  tried  his  best 


IOO  WHAT    TOMMY    DID. 

to  keep  up  the  post  of  observation,  but 
by  and  by  he  gave  it  up  and  went  to 
sleep  too. 

"  How  dark  it  is  growing,"  said  mam 
ma  suddenly,  and  looked  out  to  see  a 
great  storm  cloud  rolling  rapidly  up 
from  the  west.  "Poof!"  came  the  first 
gust  of  wind,  shutting  the  hall  door 
with  a  slam,  right  in  mamma's  face,  and 
sending  the  long  white  curtains  flut 
tering  out  at  the  windows. 

"  The  rain  is  right  upon  us,"  said 
Aunt  Louise,  running  up  to  shut  the 
windows,  while  mamma  went  to  the 
kitchen  to  ask  Ellen  where  the  children 
were. 

"  Sure  ma'am,  they're  playin'  in  the 
garret,  I'm  thinkin',"  said  Ellen,  but  even 
as  she  spoke,  she  remembered  the  bare 
headed  figure. 


LITTLE    RUNAWAY.  IOI 

"  Lu  is  here,  fast  asleep,"  called  Aunt 
Louise,  leaning  out  among  the  plash 
ing  drops  to  fasten  the  blinds. 

Lu,  wide  awake,  could  only  tell  that 
Tommy  had  gone  to  meet  his  papa,  and 
she  had  watched  him  go  over  the  sec 
ond  hill ;  all  which  made  mamma  de 
termine  in  her  frantic  heart  to  go 
straight  after  him  through  the  storm. 

"You'll  never  be  so  foolish,"  said 
Aunt  Louise.  "  Tommy  is  safe  enough. 
It's  a  straight  way,  without  a  turn  or 
a  cross-road  from  here  to  the  station, 
and  the  most  he  can  get  is  a  wetting 
and  a  good  scare;  it  won't  hurt  him 
in  the  least." 

Which  was  very  well  for  Aunt  Lou 
ise  to  say,  as  long  as  she  had  her 
own  chick  safe,  but  not  what  mamma 
felt,  with  her  poor  little  naughty  dar- 


l62  WHAT    TOMMY    DID. 

ling  shivering  and  shrinking  at  the 
white  blinding  flashes,  and  the  awful 
rattle  and  crash  of  the  thunder,  while 
the  pouring  sheets  of  rain  fairly  wet 
him  to  his  bones.  So  mamma  thought, 
but  in  fact  it  was  not  so. 

Runaway  Tommy  trudged  on  very 
comfortably  for  a  much  longer  way  up 
the  crooked  road  than  his  feet  had 
ever  gone  before.  He  found  a  good 
deal  to  amuse  him  besides  watching 
for  papa,  and  when  the  rain  began  to 
fall  had  just  discovered  a  great  red 
farm  cart,  taken  off  from  its  wheels 
and  set  upon  four  blocks  by  the  road 
side.  He  climbed  in  and  played  that 
he  had  a  hack  of  his  own,  and  was 
so  delighted  with  the  discovery  that 
he  did  not  mind  the  rain  until  it  came 
pretty  fast,  and  the  thunder  began  to 


LITTLE    RUNAWAY.  IO3 

scold  and  say,  "  Where's  naughty  Tom- 
my  ? "  Then  he  looked  around  and 
cried  a  little,  but  thought  better  of  it, 
and  crept  under  the  cart. 

Not  a  drop  of  the  rain  came  through. 
It  was  just  high  enough  to  let  him 
sit  up,  and  when  the  rain  poured  the 
fastest  only  a  few  spatters  drove  in. 
But  Tommy  was  thoroughly  frightened; 
he  was  sure  the  thunder  scolded  him, 
and  he  locked  his  fingers  tightly  to 
gether  and  never  took  his  eyes  from 
the  road  until  between  the  peals  of 
thunder  he  heard  the  rattle  of  wheels 
over  the  stones. 

"  Papa  ! "  he  screamed,  but  his  voice 
was  drowned  completely,  and  all  at 
once  he  thought  of  the  chance  of  being 
left  there  alone.  So  he  crawled  bravely 
out  and  stood  in  the  drenching  rain, 


IO4  WHAT    TOMMY    DID. 

shouting  at  the  top  of  his  sturdy  lit 
tle  voice,  "  Papa  !  Papa  ! " 

The  wagon  came  nearer.  Somebody 
heard  the  call.  Somebody  else  said  it 
wasn't  anything,  but  papa  knew  better. 
Clear  down  at  the  bottom  of  his  heart 
was  something,  I  cannot  tell  you  what, 
that  answered  the  voice  and  made  papa 
draw  up  the  reins  and  say,  "Hark!" 

'*  Papa  !  Papa ! "  it  called  again,  and 
a  dripping  figure  ran  from  the  weeds 
toward  the  wagon.  "  Papa,  it's  me ;  I 
came  to  meet  you." 

Not  a  word  about  peanuts,  and  not 
a  word  did  papa  say.  He  only  held 
the  little  soaking,  slippery  fellow  close 
in  his  arms,  and  never  minded  how 
the  water  ran.  from  him  in  streams  and 
puddles,  until  they  drove  under  the 
shed  and  he  sprang  out,  ran  into  the 


LITTLE    RUNAWAY.  105 

house  and  set  the  runaway  down  among 
the  frightened  people. 

Mamma  hugged  him  and  forgave  him 
that  instant,  but  Aunt  Louise  wiped  her 
eyes  and  scolded  him  soundly,  until  he 
was  carried  away  to  be  dried.  The  warm 
rain  did  not  hurt  him  a  mite,  and  he  came 
out  to  supper  rosy  and  triumphant. 

"  You  ought  to  punish  him,"  said 
Aunt  Louise,  severely. 

"  He's  punished  enough,  poor  lamb," 
said  mamma,  tenderly. 

"  He  doesn't  care  a  bit,"  said  Aunt 
Louise,  "  and  next  time  he  may  not 
come  off  so  well." 

"  Tommy,"  said  papa,  taking  the  lit 
tle  culprit  on  his  knee,  "  don't  you 
think  you  were  naughty  to  run  away  ? " 

"  Yes,"  said  Tommy,  "  I'm  got  my  new 
shoes  on,  papa." 


IO6  WHAT    TOMMY    DID. 

"  Mamma  was  so  frightened  I'm  afraid 
she'll  be  sick,"  said  papa. 

"  Oh,  too  bad,"  said  Tommy,  ruefully, 
giving  mamma  a  sudden  squeeze  about 
the  head  as  she  knelt  by  him,  "  Docker 
must  give  her  some  nux." 

"  Tommy  might  have  been  lost  if 
God  hadn't  taken  care  of  him,  and 
made  papa  stop " 

"  That  was  me  a  callin',"  interrupted 
Tommy,  looking  up  from  the  new  shoes 
he  was  admiring,  "  and  I  hurt  me  some- 
wheres  crawlin'  frew ;  right  here,  on  the 
elbone  to  my  leg ;  did  you  know  I'm 
got  elbones  to  my  legs  ?  That's  so 
they'll  limber  up." 


CHAPTER   X. 


TOMMY'S  FORF  'N  JULY. 


ILLY  knew  all  about  it.  Billy 
had  three  big  brothers,  and  his 
father  kept  a  livery  stable ;  so  of 
course  he  knew  most  things.  It 
was  Billy  that  told  Tommy,  for  the 
blessed  little  heathen  couldn't  remem 
ber  that  he  had  ever  heard  of  Fourth 
of  July.  To  be  sure,  there  had  only 
been  four  of  them  in  Tommy's  calen 
dar,  and  the  last  two  of  those  he  had 
spent,  with  mamma,  out  at  Grandma 
Bancroft's ;  and  grandma  hated  torpe- 


108  WHAT    TOMMY    DID. 

does  and  fire  crackers  as  heartily  as 
she  loved  Tommy,  so  there  were  plenty 
of  nuts,  and  candies,  and  frosted  cakes, 
but  not  a  spark  of  gunpowder. 

"Ho!"  said  Billy,  "I've  been  to 
more'n  fifty  Fourth  o'  Julys,  and  they 
always  have  fire  crackers  and  torpedoes ; 
that's  what  it's  for,  and  to  drink  lemon 
ade  and  sody." 

"  I  don't  like  sody,"  said  Tommy, 
doubtfully ;  "  once  I  ate  some  out  of  a 
little  box,  and  it  wasn't  sugar."  And 
Tommy  made  a  wry  face. 

"Taint  that  kind,"  said  Billy;  "they 
squirt  it  out  of  a  machine,  and  it  all 
goes  up  into  a  pile,  like  shavin'  soap, 
and  you  wink  your  eyes  shut  and  just 
swaller,  without  stoppin'  to  taste.  I  tell 
you  it's  bully." 

"  Y-e-e-s,"  said    Tommy,  winking  very 


TOMMY'S  FORF  'N  JULY.  109 


fast,  and  trying  to  imagine  the  opera 
tion. 

"You  get  your  Uncle  Jim  to  buy 
you  some  fire  crackers,"  counseled  Billy, 
"  and  we'll  fire  'em  off,  to-morrer." 

Tommy  was  a  little  uncertain  about 
the  result,  for  he  had  a  general  impres 
sion  that  his  mamma  didn't  approve  of 
fire  or  gunpowder ;  but  that  evening,  as 
they  sat  at  tea,  he  opened  the  subject. 

"Uncle  Jim,"  said  he,  gravely,  "did 
you  know  to-morrow  was  a  Forf  'n 
July?" 

"Is  it?"  said  Uncle  Jim.  "Are  they 
going  to  have  one  this  year?" 

"  An'  Billy  likes  sody  'n  water ;  you 
mix  it  up  wid  shavin's,  and  shut  your 
eyes,  and  its — its — bully,"  said  Tommy, 
innocently. 

"  Tommy  Bancroft,"  said  mamma,  with 


IIO  WHAT    TOMMY    DID. 

a  look  of  horror,  "  where  do  you  learn 
such  words  ?  " 

"  Billy  told  me  that,"  said  Tommy, 
complacently.  "  Billy  knows  lots  of  fun 
ny  words." 

"  Evil  communications  corrupt  good 
manners,"  said  Uncle  Jim,  sipping  his 
tea. 

"  An'  Billy  says  you'd  ought  to  buy 
me  some  fire  crackers,"  said  Tommy ; 
"will  you,  Uncle  Jim?" 

"Ask  mamma,"  said  Uncle  Jim,  with 
a  funny  twinkle  in  his  eye. 

"  O,  Tommy,  I'm  afraid,"  said  mamma. 

"Ho!"  said  Tommy,  "I  ain't  'fraid 
'tall.  I  da'st  to  fire  a  gun." 

"  Well,  we'll  see  about  it  when  papa 
comes  home,"  said  mamma,  and  that 
was  just  as  good  to  Tommy  as  a 
promise. 


TOMMYS    FORF     N   JULY.  Ill 

The  fact  was,  that  mamma,  and  papa, 
and  Uncle  Jim,  had  discussed  this  ques 
tion  of  fire-works,  and  the  two  gentle 
men  had  stoutly  maintained  that  Tom 
my  was  old  enough  to  be  trusted  with 
the  delights  of  celebrating  the  Fourth 
in  regular  boy  fashion,  and,  after  a 
good  deal  of  protesting,  mamma  had 
yielded  the  point.  And  the  reason  papa 
was  not  at  tea  at  that  very  moment 
was,  that  he  had  stopped  on  his  way 
home  to  lay  in  a  bountiful  supply  of 
crackers,  torpedoes,  grasshoppers,  and 
other  delightful  things,  which  all  boys 
know  the  names  of  better  than  I  do. 
When  Tommy  went  to  bed,  they  were 
safely  reposing  in  a  big,  square  box  on 
the  shelf  of  the  hall  closet,  and  behind 
the  door  was  a  queer,  long  bundle,  that 
mamma  herself  did  not  know  about, 


112  WHAT    TOMMY    DID. 

containing  splendid  rockets  and  Roman 
candles. 

"  It  is  only  once  a  year,"  said  papa, 
"and  I  mean  to  make  it  a  glorious  day 
to  him."  But  privately  I  don't  mind 
telling  you  that  papa  liked  torpedoes 
and  sky  rockets  as  well  as  a  boy,  and 
so  did  Uncle  Jim. 

The  racket  began  right  after  mid 
night,  with  all  sorts  of  banging,  and 
cracking,  and  popping,  and  fizzing,  but 
Tommy  slept  the  sleep  of  the  blessed, 
and  only  waked  at  sunrise,  with  a  whole 
broadside  of  crackers  from  the  alley, 
sent  off  as  a  salute  by  his  friend  Billy. 

"  Somebody's  a  shootin'  "  said  Tommy, 
opening  his  eyes  in  an  instant.  "  Oh ! 
it's  Forf  'n  July." 

It  was  hard  dressing  a  boy  in  such 
a  tremor  of  excitement,  and  he  wanted 


TOMMY'S  FORF  'N  JULY. 


to  set  fire  to  his  whole  assortment,  and 
send  them  off  at  a  crash ;  but  he  was 
finally  obliged  to  content  himself,  until 
after  breakfast,  with  a  package  of  tor 
pedoes,  with  which  he  strewed  the  piazza 
and  the  front  steps,  and  kept  up  a 
constant  snapping  and  cracking. 

"  Now,  Tommy,"  said  papa,  after  break 
fast,  "I'll  show  you  how  to  fire  your 
crackers." 

So  papa  showed  Tommy,  and  then 
Uncle  Jim  showed  him,  and  then  papa 
showed  him  again,  and  then  Uncle  Jim 
did ;  and  so  they  kept  showing  him, 
until  mamma  was  half  distracted,  and  the 
whole  house  smelled  like  a  battlefield. 

All  the  time  Billy  had  been  squeezing 
his  face  through  the  alley  gate,  longing 
to  come  in,  but  not  quite  daring  to 
venture,  for  the  last  time  he  had  put 

8 


114  WHAT    TOMMY    DID. 

in  an  appearance  at  the  house,  Bridget 
had  promptly  seized  him  by  a  conven 
ient  superfluity  of  his  garments,  and 
landed  him  in  a  puddle  on  his  own 
side  of  the  fence.  But  Uncle  Jim's 
heart  grew  warm  with  patriotism,  and 
presently  he  spied  Billy,  and  called  him 
in,  enriching  him  with  two  packages  of 
crackers,  and  a  splendid  piece  of  punk. 

Mamma  frowned,  but  papa  said,  "  Non 
sense  ;  we're  all  brothers  to-day.  Let 
the  little  wretch  have  a  good  time." 
And  he  let  Tommy  shoot  crackers  in 
the  alley,  under  Billy's  direction,  until 
the  young  gentleman  was  brought  up 
to  a  tremendous  pitch  of  enthusiasm, 
and  you  would  have  thought  there  were 
at  least  ten  boys  out  there,  instead  of 
two  very  small  ones. 

Then     Uncle    Jim    opened   his    heart 


TOMMYS    FORF     N    JULY.  115 

still  more,  and  volunteered  to  take  both 
the  boys  down  to  the  fruit  stand  at  the 
corner  and  treat  them;  and  that  elegant 
gentleman  actually  walked  out  of  the 
front  gate,  with  the  children  following 
him,  and  paid  at  the  fruit  stand  for 
two  glasses  of  soda  water,  a  pine  apple, 
a  bunch  of  bananas,  and  two  immense 
oranges.  Then  he  walked  away,  smil 
ing  and  happy,  and  the  children  carried 
the  fruit  home,  ate  it  on  the  sidewalk, 
and  were  cross  and  miserable  all  the 
rest  of  the  day.  They  quarreled  over 
the  remnant  of  the  torpedoes,  and  came 
to  blows  about  the  last  bunch  of  crack 
ers,  because  Billy  accidentally  dropped 
a  match  and  exploded  them  all  at 
once.  The  end  of  it  all  was,  that  mam 
ma  sent  Billy  home,  tearful  and  indig 
nant,  washed  Tommy's  grimy  hands 


Il6  WHAT   TOMMY    DID. 

and  face,  and  put  him  to  bed,  to  sleep 
off  his  excitement  and  fatigue. 

When  he  awoke,  it  was  almost  dark, 
and  he  heard  a  great  deal  of  talking 
and  laughing,  and  a  jingle  of  glass  and 
silver.  And  Ellen  came  in  and  dressed 
Tommy  in  his  best  Marseilles  suit,  and 
the  baby  had  on  her  tucked  muslin, 
with  puffs  and  pink  ribbons,  and  her 
hair  curled  in  little,  shining  rings ;  and 
when  mamma  came  and  led  Tommy 
into  the  parlor,  there  was  a  large  com 
pany  of  people,  eating  ice  cream  and 
raspberries  and  cake.  They  made  a 
great  fuss  about  Tommy  and  the  baby, 
as  if  they  meant  to  eat  them  up ;  and 
they  really  did  look  sweet  enough  to 
eat.  And  then  Tommy  sat  on  his  papa's 
knee,  and  ate  raspberries  and  cream,  too. 

When  it   grew  a   little  darker,   Uncle 


TOMMYS    FORF     N   JULY.  Ii; 

Jim  disappeared,  and  all  at  once  a  splen 
did  rocket  shot  up  from  the  front  yard, 
with  a  loud  "  whiz"  and  after  that  a  Ro 
man  candle,  and  then  some  more  rockets. 
And  Tommy  stood  by  the  bay  window, 
and  fairly  held  his  breath  with  delight. 
They  kept  it  up  for  an  hour,  and  the  fire 
works  were  a  wonderful  success  ;  besides, 
they  could  see,  in  every  direction,  how 
the  rockets  and  Roman  candles  shot  up 
from  other  people's  front  yards,  making 
a  splendid  show  against  the  dark  sky. 

And  afterward  the  gas  was  lighted 
in  the  parlor,  and  mamma  played  on 
the  piano,  and  Uncle  Jim  sang  some 
songs  with  a  lovely  lady  in  white  tarla 
tan  ;  and  by  and  by  they  all  went  away. 
But  I  don't  think  Tommy  will  ever, 
ever  forget  that  "  Forf  'n  July,"  not  for 
five  years,,  at  le-ast 


CHAPTER  XL 


TOMMY'S  MENAGERIE. 


T  was  all  Uncle  Jim's  fault,  every 
bit  of  it,  because,  if  he  hadn't 
taken  Tommy  to  the  museum,  to 
see  the  wild  beasts,  and  snakes,  and 
curious  animals,  Tommy  never  would 
have  thought  of  such  a  thing  as  a  men 
agerie.  And  Uncle  Jim  wasn't  very  much 
to  blame,  either,  for  Tommy's  papa  and 
mamma  went  away  for  a  whole  week,  and 
took  the  baby,  and  left  him  and  Uncle 
Jim  with  only  Bridget,  and  so,  of  course, 
they  would  get  into  some  mischief. 


\ 


TOMMYS    MENAGERIE.  IIQ 

Well,  as  I  said,  Uncle  Jim  took 
Tommy  to  the  museum,  and  I  couldn't 
begin  to  tell  you  how  many  wonder 
ful  things  he  saw  —  a  canary  bird  that 
could  dance  on  a  tight  rope  and  fire 
a  gun  ;  and  a  rooster  without  any 
head,  that  walked  about  and  crowed ; 
a  lot  of  monkeys  in  a  cage  ;  and, 
strangest  of  all,  what  they  called  "  The 
Happy  Family,"  which  was  a  great 
cage  where  a  couple  of  cats,  a  dog, 
some  white  mice,  a  long-tailed  rat,  a  lot 
of  birds,  and  several  other  animals,  all 
lived  together.  They  didn't  look  very 
happy,  but  then  they  didn't  eat  each 
other  up,  and  that  is  all  you  can  say 
of  some  other  "  happy  families." 

Tommy  talked  a  great  deal  about  the 
museum,  and  thought  about  it  a  great 
deal  more.  He  asked  his  Uncle  Jim  all 


120  WHAT    TOMMY    DID. 

manner  of  questions,  as  they  sat  at 
breakfast  the  next  morning.  Uncle  Jim 
was  sipping  his  coffee  and  reading  his 
paper  and  trying  to  make  up  his  mind 
whether  there  would  be  a  war  in  Europe 
or  not,  so  he  only  listened  occasionally 
to  Tommy's  questions,  although  he  ans 
wered  them  just  the  same. 

"  Uncle  Jim,"  said  Tommy,  "  how  you 
s'pose  they  caught  that  big  snake  ? " 

"  Um,  yes  ;  I  presume  so,"  said  Uncle 
Jim. 

Tommy  looked  hard  at  Uncle  Jim, 
and  ate  three  mouthfuls  of  toast.  Then 
he  ventured  again. 

"  Uncle  Jim,  what  you  s'pose  they 
stuff  up  those  birds  wid  ?  The  ones  in 
the  big  cage,  wid  their  wings  all  flut 
tered  out  so?" 

"Yes;  most  likely,"  said  Uncle  Jim. 


TOMMYS    MENAGERIE.  121 

Tommy  didn't  see  the  point,  so  he 
thought  about  it  a  little  while,  till  Uncle 
Jim  laid  down  his  paper  to  butter  a 
muffin. 

"Uncle  Jim,"  he  began,  "  why  don't 
that  cat  eat  up  the  birds  and  rings  ?  " 

"  O,"  said  Uncle  Jim,  quite  rationally, 
"  they're  used  to  living  together.  I  dare 
say  they  didn't  like  it  very  well  at  first. 
Have  a  muffin,  Tommy?" 

Tommy  decided  to  have  a  muffin, 
and  while  he  was  eating  it,  Uncle  Jim 
went  away,  and  Bridget  came  in  and 
told  him  to  finish  his  breakfast  quick, 
for  she  was  in  a  hurry.  Tommy  was 
never  in  a  hurry,  but  he  finished  his 
breakfast,  and  went  and  sat  on  the  back 
steps  to  feed  his  pigeons  and  watch  for 
Billy.  There  were  two  white  pigeons, 
with  great,  spreading  fan  tails,  and 


122  WHAT   TOMMY    DID. 

one  beautiful  slate-colored  pigeon,  with 
glossy  feathers  that  shaded  into  green 
and  purple  and  red,  in  the  sun.  They 
ran  about  on  the  clean  gravel  walk, 
with  their  pretty,  red  feet,  cooing  and 
chattering,  as  they  picked  up  the  corn 
Tommy  threw  them. 

The  great  Maltese  cat  came  up  to 
Tommy,  rubbing  her  sleek  fur  against 
his  feet,  and  trying  her  best  to  say  "  good 
morning"  to  him.  The  pigeons  were 
not  at  all  afraid  of  the  cat,  and  all  at 
once  it  occurred  to  Tommy  that  he 
might  have  a  happy  family,  if  he  only 
had  a  cage  to  put  it  in. 

Just  at  this  unlucky  moment  Billy 
came  sauntering  up  the  alley,  eating  a 
thick  slice  of  bread  and  molasses.  Tom 
my  hailed  him  directly,  and  the  two  boys 
went  out  and  sat  in  the  door  of  the 


TOMMY'S  MENAGERIE.  123 

woodhouse,  while  all  the  marvels  of  the 
museum  were  talked  over. 

It  was  a  great  triumph  to  Tommy, 
to  be  able  to  tell  Billy  anything  he  did 
not  know,  and  his  eyes  grew  bigger  and 
bluer  every  moment  with  excitement. 

"  An'  more'n  a  million  birds,  Billy, 
wid  all  their  fedders  and  wings  fluttered 
out,  only  but  they  couldn't  fly ;  an'  lots 
of  awful  big  snakes,  all  stuffed  full  of 
fings  they  swallowed,  an'  little  bits  of 
snakes,  all  pickled  up  in  preserve  bottles, 
an'  monkeys  in  a  cage,  but  they  was 
alive,  and  they  don't  never  feed  'em 
'cause  it  said  you  musn't  on  a  card  that 
Uncle  Jim  read,;  and  I  liked  the  mon 
keys  best,  'cause  they  can  just  stand  up 
in  the  air  and  hold  on  wid  their  tails." 

"  I've  seen  a  monkey,  myself,"  said 
Billy ;  "  two  on  ' 


124  WHAT    TOMMY    DID. 

"  O  my,  Billy,  you'd  ought  to  see  the 
'Happy  Family!'  exclaimed  Tommy, 
frisking  off  from  the  step  in  his  excite 
ment,  and  then  coming  back  again. 
"  You  see  they  don't  like  it  at  first, 
Uncle  Jim  s'poses,  but  they  get  used 
to  it,  and  they  all  live  together  in  a  big 
cage.  There's  a  cat  wid  a  rat  on  her 
backhand  some  white  mice  running  over 
a  little  dog,  and  some  birds,  and  a 
monkey,  and  lots  of  rings." 

"  Tommy,"  interrupted  Billy,  "  you  go 
and  ask  Bridget  for  a  cooky,  and  get 
one  for  me." 

1  Well,"  said  Tommy,  and  away  he 
went. 

Bridget  was  just  tying  on  her  hat. 
She  told  Tommy  she  was  going  to.  mar 
ket,  and  if  he  would  be  a  good  boy  she 
would  bring  him  two  balls  of  pop-corn. 


TOMMYS    MENAGERIE.  125 

Tommy  consented  reluctantly,  for  he 
liked  to  go  to  market  with  Bridget ; 
and  then  she  gave  him  two  cookies, 
and  called  him  a  "  nice  little  gintleman." 

While  he  was  sharing  his  cookies 
with  Billy,  he  ventured  to  tell  him  of 
his  plan  of  getting  up  a  happy  family. 

"  Tell  ye  what,"  said  Billy,  "  we  can 
do  it.  Bob's  got  a  big  squirrel  cage  in 
the  barn,  and  we'll  put  in  my  puppy 
and  S'lena's  white  mice." 

"  An'  I'll  catch  Muff  and  one  of  my 
pigeons,"  said  Tommy,  in  an  ecstasy  of 
delight. 

There  was  nothing  at  all  to  hinder, 
so  the  cage  was  brought  over,  the  fat 
little  puppy  waddling  after,  as  fast  as 
his  short  legs  would  allow.  I  am  afraid 
the  white  mice  were  smuggled  away,  for 
S'lena  was  very  choice  of  her  pets  ;  but 


126  WHAT    TOMMY    DID.. 

they  were  brought,  in  some  fashion  ;  and 
then  Muff  was  bribed  into  Billy's  arms 
by  a  bit  of  cooky,  and  held  fast  ;  while 
Tommy  expended  all  his  skill  in  catch 
ing  the  blue  pigeon,  which  seemed  from 
the  first  to  suspect  something.  There 
was  no  trouble  in  getting  the  mice  into 
the  cage — it  was  only  to  open  their 
box  and  tip  them  in,  and  they  hid 
themselves  in  a  wink  under  the  straw 
on  the  bottom.  The  blue  pigeon  went 
in  easily,  too,  when  it  was  once  caught ; 
but  old  Muff  was  a  tight  squeeze,  and 
was  only  crowded  through  the  door  by 
vigorous  pushing,  yowling  dismally,  and 
leaving  some  bunches  of  fur  by  the  way. 
As  for  the  puppy,  it  was  clearly  of  no 
use  to  try  —  so  that  part  of  the  family 
was  left  outside. 

But    Muff   smelt    mice,  instantly,  and 


TOMMYS    MENAGERIE.  I  27 

pounced  upon  them,  seizing  one  little 
unfortunate,  while  the  other  made  his 
escape  through  the  bars  of  the  cage, 
and  took  refuge  in  the  wood-pile.  It  was 
all  over  in  a  flash,  while  Tommy  and 
Billy  were  consulting  as  to  the  possi 
bility  of  taking  off  the  bottom  of  the 
cage  and  putting  Fido  in  that  way.  And 
in  the  meantime  Fido  waddled  off  and 
had  to  be  brought  back,  so  neither  of 
them  knew  anything  of  the  fate  of  the 
mice,  and  puss  sat  wiping  her  whiskers, 
and  never  gave  a  hint. 

Yes,  the  bottom  of  the  cage  would 
come  off;  it  was  only  fastened  on  with 
hooks  ;  and  after  infinite  trouble,  Fido 
and  Muff  were  squeezed  in  together 
and  fastened  there.  Neither  of  them 
liked  the  situation.  They  had  been  per 
fectly  amiable  to  each  other  in  the  back 


128  WHAT    TOMMY    DID. 

yard  and  alley,  but  being  shut  up  to 
gether  in  a  cage  was  a  different  affair. 
So  Muff  began  to  spit  and  scold,  and 
Fido  to  bark  angrily,  greatly  to  Tom 
my's  surprise  and  Billy's  delight. 

"  They'll  get  used  to  it,  I  guess,"  said 
Tommy,  doubtfully ;  while  Billy  rolled 
on  the  floor  and  laughed  at  every  fresh 
show  of  hostilities ;  and  the  blue  pigeon 
perched  in  the  top  of  the  cage,  and 
looked  anxious  and  uncomfortable.  In 
the  midst  of  it  all,  Bridget  came  to  the 
back  door  calling  Tommy,  and  holding 
out  two  balls  of  pink  pop-corn.  Tom 
my  ran  instantly.  Billy  followed  at  a 
safe  distance,  and  poor  Fido  gave  a 
yelp  and  a  plunge  of  despair,  as  he  saw 
his  master  disappear.  The  bottom  of 
the  cage  rolled  one  way  and  the  top 
another.  Muff  made  one  bound  and 


TOMMYS    MENAGERIE.  I2Q 

disappeared  under  the  woodhouse,  Fido 
came  tumbling  frantically  after  Billy, 
and  the  blue  pigeon  sailed  up  to  the 
roof  to  dress  his  rumpled  feathers.  No 
body  ever  heard  from  the  white  mice, 
but  the  happy  family  was  considered  a 
failure. 

That  night  Tommy  ate  his  supper 
very  soberly,  and  scarcely  spoke  at  all. 
Only  once  he  asked,  gravely,  "  Uncle 
Jim,  how  long  you  s'pose  it  takes  'em 
to  get  used  to  it  ? " 

And  Uncle  Jim  didn't  know. 


CHAPTER  XII. 


TOMMYS     BALLOON. 

'HERE  never  was  anything  half 
so  wonderful.  Tommy  sat  on 
the  parlor  floor  and  held  it  fast 
with  his  fat,  dimpled  hands,  and  drew 
his  fingers  softly  over  the  smooth,  round 
sides,  and  was  almost  afraid  to  breathe 
lest  it  should  float  away  from  him. 
Uncle  Jim  had  just  brought  it  from  the 
city.  He  bought  it  on  Clark  street 
bridge,  where  a  man  stood  with  a  dozen 
of  them  fastened  to  strings,  and  tossing 
up  and  down  in  the  air,  like  beautiful, 


TOMMY'S  BALLOON.  131 


great,  red  soap  bubbles.  When  Tommy 
got  tired  of  holding  it  in  his  arms,  and 
tried  to  lay  it  on  the  floor,  up  it  went  to 
the  white  ceiling,  and  hung  there,  all 
shiny  and  glistening  in  the  lamp  light. 
Tommy  pulled  it  softly  down  by  the 
string,  and  then  for  a  long  time  he  played 
with  it,  until  mamma  came  with  the 
white  night-gown,  and  took  him  away 
up  stairs  to  bed.  It  was  funny  then  that 
he  couldn't  lay  his  balloon  away  any 
where,  but  only  let  go  of  the  string,  and 
let  it  go  up  to  the  ceiling,  right  over  his 
bed.  He  watched  it  as  long  as  he  could 
see,  while  mamma  carried  the  lamp  away 
down  the  long  hall,  and  when  she  went 
down  stairs  the  very  last  bit  of  light  that 
came  in  over  the  top  of  the  door  shone 
straight  on  the  balloon.  Tommy  meant 
to  keep  awake,  so  as  to  see  it  again  when 


132  WHAT    TOMMY    DID. 

mamma  came  up  to  bed,  but  by  and  by 
he  shut  his  eyes  a  little,  just  to  rest  them, 
and  then  he  forgot  all  about  the  balloon 
until  morning,  and  there  was  the  sun 
peeping  in  at  the  balloon,  and  the  bal 
loon  peeping  out  at  the  sun,  and  looking 
more  like  a  great,  red  soap  bubble  than 
ever. 

They  had  milk  toast  for  breakfast,  but 
Tommy  hadn't  any  appetite ;  and  before 
the  rest  were  half  through  eating  he  was 
out  on  the  gravel  walk  in  the  front  yard, 
looking  up  at  his  red  balloon,  with  his 
round  face  fairly  solemn  with  excitement. 
He  only  let  it  go  a  very  little  way  at 
first,  but  after  a  while  he  let  out  the 
slender  silk  thread,  and  it  floated  about 
just  above  the  top  of  the  silver  maple  by 
the  gate.  Tommy  sat  down  to  watch  it. 
He  played  he  was  in  the  balloon  himself, 


TOMMYS    BALLOON.  133 

going  right  up  to  see  the  man  in  the 
moon.  He  couldn't  see  the  moon  any 
where,  but  he  felt  sure  it  must  be  up 
there  somewhere. 

Then  he  thought  he  would  ask  Uncle 
Jim  to  put  a  longer  string  to  the  balloon  ; 
he  wanted  to  see  how  it  would  look  away 
up  among  the  lovely  pink  clouds  that 
were  floating  about  the  east.  So  he 
pulled  it  down  and  held  it  fast  in  his 
chubby  arms  and  started  for  the  house. 
He  started,  but  he  didn't  get  there ;  for 
he  stubbed  his  poor  little  foot  against 
the  wheel  to  the  baby's  wagon,  and  down 
went  the  bright  face  on  the  gravel  walk, 
and  out  went  the  fat  arms  in  the  air,  and, 
O  dear !  it  almost  makes  me  cry  to  think 
of  it,  away  went  the  beautiful,  round,  red, 
shining  balloon,  straight  up  toward  the 
pink  and  white  clouds  in  the  east. 


134  WHAT    TOMMY    DID. 

Tommy  picked  himself  up  quick 
enough,  and  then  looked  around  for  the 
balloon  ;  but  of  course  that  did  not  wait 
to  be  picked  up  —  it  was  above  the  top 
of  the  silver  maple.  Tommy  screamed, 
first  for  mamma !  then  for  Uncle  Jim ! 
and  they  both  came  running  out.  So  did 
Ellen,  and  so  did  Biddy  the  cook ;  but  if 
all  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic  had 
been  there,  it  wouldn't  have  done  any 
good.  The  longest  ladder  in  the  world 
would  not  have  reached  half  way  to  the 
sky,  and  so  the  balloon  floated  airily 
away,  while  Tommy  wailed  and  sobbed, 
and  his  mamma  tried  to  comfort  him, 
and  Uncle  Jim  promised  to  buy  him  an 
other  balloon. 

They  all  went  in  at  last,  and  Tommy 
sat  down  on  the  grass,  and  watched  his 
balloon  till  it  was  only  a  tiny  speck  in 


THE   LOST   BALLOON. 


Page  134. 


TOMMY'S  BALLOON.  135 

the  distance,  and  then  he  went  mourn 
fully  in  to  his  mamma.  He  laid  his  head 
on  her  lap,  and  asked  her,  in  a  sorrow 
ful  little  voice,  where  she  supposed  his 
dear,  red  balloon  would  go  to  ?  Would 
it  go  away  up  to  heaven,  and  would 
the  little  angels  have  it  to  play  with? 
and  would  he  find  it  when  he  went 
there  to  live  ? 

So  his  mamma  laid  down  her  work, 
and  took  the  little  boy  on  her  lap,  and 
told  him  this  story  —  and  it  might  have 
been  true : 

"  Once  there  was  a  little  boy  that 
lived  all  alone  with  his  grandmother  in 
an  old,  dingy,  brown  house.  The  boy 
was  lame,  so  he  never  could  run  and 
play,  and  he  was  poor,  so  he  had  no 
nice  things  to  amuse  him ;  but  every 
day,  when  his  grandmother  was  at  work, 


136  WHAT    TOMMY    DID. 

he  limped  out  under  the  tree  in  the 
narrow  yard,  and  lay  there  looking  up 
to  the  sky.  He  liked  to  watch  the 
clouds  sailing  over,  and  fancy  they  were 
ships  and  castles,  and  sometimes  beau 
tiful  white  angels.  One  day  he  saw, 
away  up  in  the  sky,  a  little  dark  speck, 
and  as  it  came  nearer  and  nearer,  it 
dropped  lower  and  lower,  till  it  shone 
like  a  great,  red  star  in  the  sunshine. 
The  little  boy  sat  up  and  watched  it  ea 
gerly.  Nearer  and  nearer  it  came  —  past 
the  steeple  of  the  church,  past  the  tall 
chimney  of  the  factory,  right  over  the 
roof  of  the  academy,  almost  touching 
it  by  this  time.  He  stood  up,  leaning 
on  his  crutch,  and  saw  it  coming,  always 
a  little  lower,  right  across  the  old,  bare 
common,  and  over  his  grandmother's 
yard.  He  limped  a  step  or  two  toward 


TOMMY'S  BALLOON.  137 

it,  caught  at  the  trailing  thread  of  silk 
that  hung  from  it,  and  sat  down,  all 
trembling  with  delight,  with  the  strange, 
beautiful  thing  in  his  hands.  He  did 
not  know  that  it  was  a  balloon  that  a 
little  boy  had  lost,  and  that  had  come 
down  because  the  gas  had  slowly  escaped 
from  it;  he  thought  it  was  something 
God  had  sent  him  straight  out  of  heaven. 
And  he  took  a  great  deal  of  comfort 
with  it,  and  kept  it  till  it  slowly  lost 
its  pretty  round  shape,  and  even  then 
he  loved  it." 

"  That  was  a  nice  story,"  said  Tommy. 
"  I'm  glad  I  know  what  'came  of  my 
b'loon." 


CHAPTER  XIII. 


TOMMYS     ADVENTURE. 

ILLY  had  a  wonderful  stock  of 
patience.  To  be  sure  he  had 
very  little  to  try  it,  for  as  he  nev 
er  had  to  go  through  with  any  wash 
ing  or  brushing  or  curling  to  speak 
of,  he  saved  up  all  his  stock  to  spend 
on  more  important  matters.  This  special 
morning  he  had  waited  at  the  alley  gate, 
with  his  sticky  face  pressed  close  against 
the  bars,  waiting  ,and  watching  for 
nearly  an  hour  in  the  vain  hope  that 
Tommy  would  make  his  appearance. 


TOMMYS    ADVENTURE.  139 

As  for  Tommy,  he  was  in  the  house, 
trying  to  harness  his  kitten  to  baby's 
tin  express  wagon.  The  trouble  was, 
that  whenever  kitty  heard  the  wagon 
rattling  behind  her,  she  turned  around 
quick  as  a  flash,  to  see  what  was  com 
ing  ;  and  so  Tommy  had  to  begin  all 
over  again.  He  gave  it  up  at  last,  and 
kitty  crept  away  under  the  lounge  to 
lick  her  fur  into  respectable  condition, 
and  Tommy  sauntered  out  the  door, 
quite  undecided  what  to  do  next. 
Billy's  patience  then  had  its  reward. 

"C'mover  here,  Tommy,"  he  called ; 
"  want  t'  show  you  something." 

Tommy  came  down  to  the  gate  ;  like 
Parley  the  porter,  he  only  meant  to 
look  through ;  but  when  he  saw  the 
doors  of  the  livery  stable  all  splendid 
with  red  and  yellow  posters,  he  marched 


140  WHAT    TOMMY    DID. 

straight  across  the  alley  before  he  stop 
ped  to  think. 

"  It's  the  cirkis,"  said  Billy.  "  It's  over 
by  the  soap  fact'ry  in  a  tent  more'n  a 
mile  big;  an'  there's  elfunts,  an'  ranga- 
tangs,  an'  camels  higher'n  a  house,  an' 
monkeys,  an'  everything." 

"  I  saw  monkeys  to  the  musement," 
said  Tommy,  twisting  his  short  neck  to 
get  a  good  view  of  a  picture  that  was 
pasted  on  sideways. 

"  Ho,  'taint  like  them  things,"  said 
Billy,  scornfully.  "  The  elfunts  dance  on 
one  leg,  and  they  have  a  horse  that  can 
read  the  paper,  and  fly  in  the  air  with 
a  man  standin'  up  on  his  back.  My 
brother  Sam  seen  'em." 

"  I'll  ask  my  Uncle  Jim  to  take  me," 
said  Tommy,  "  or  nelse  papa." 

And  so  he  did  ;   but  he  found,  to  his 


TOMMYS    ADVENTURE.  141 

great  disappointment,  that  neither  of 
them  approved  at  all  of  the  circus,  so 
he  was  forced  to  console  himself  by 
admiring  the  pictures. 

"  I  know  the  way,"  suggested  Billy, 
temptingly.  "  You  jest  come  down  to 
the  corner,  an'  I'll  show  ye." 

Tommy  did  not  mean  to  go  any 
farther,  but  when  they  reached  the  cor 
ner  there  was  a  big  store  in  the  way, 
and  they  had  to  cross  the  street  to 
see  plainer.  Then  they  walked  along  a 
little  farther  to  see  some  gold-fish  in  a 
window,  and  then  to  see  what  a  wooden 
Indian  was  holding  out  in  his  hand, 
and  then  to  examine  some  red  veloci 
pedes,  until  at  last  they  came  to  the 
street  cars.  Right  at  the  corner  there 
was  one  with  a  little  flag  on  top,  that 
said,  in  big  letters,  "TO  THE  HIP- 


142  WHAT    TOMMY    DID. 

PODROME."  Neither  of  the  boys 
could  read  it,  and  if  they  could  have 
done  so,  they  never  would  have  guessed 
what  it  meant.  But  Billy  knew  that 
the  car  with  the  flag  went  to  the  circus, 
so  he  said, 

"  Let's  get  in."  And  foolish  little 
Tommy  got  right  in. 

There  was  nobody  inside,  but  pres 
ently  the  car  began  to  fill  up,  and,  soon 
after  they  started,  the  conductor  came 
through  for  tickets. 

"Who  pays  for  you,  bub?"  he  said 
to  Tommy. 

"  Papa,  nelse  Uncle  Jim,"  said  Tommy 
promptly. 

The  conductor  looked  around  inquir 
ingly,  and  Tommy  explained, 

"  They  didn't  come,  too ;  we're  goin' 
to  see  the  cirkis,  me'n  Billy." 


TOMMY'S  ADVENTURE.  143 


"Have  you  got  any  money?"  asked 
the  conductor,  smiling  a  little. 

"  Course,  I'sh  fink  so,"  said  Tommy, 
"  in  my  tin  savings  bank ;  and  a  dollar 
besides  of  it,  only  it's  lost  down  the 
'frigerator  hole  to  the  parlor,  where  the 
warm  comes  up." 

"  I've  got  more'n  that,"  said  Billy,  "only 
I  borrowed  it  to  Sam,  and  he  don't  never 
pay  me." 

"  They're  running  away,  the  little  ras 
cals,"  said  a  good-natured  looking  man 
to  the  conductor.  "  The  best  thing  you 
can  do  is  to  put  them  off  at  the  next 
corner,  and  tell  them  to  go  home." 

So  the  conductor  put  them  off,  and 
told  them  to  run  straight  home,  or  the 
policeman  would  lock  them  up  ;  at  which 
Tommy  began  to  cry,  but  Billy  was  not 
in  the  least  troubled. 


144  WHAT    TOMMY    DID. 

"  Come  on,  Tommy,"  said  he,  boldly, 
"we're  'most  there  now." 

"  I  want  to  go  home,"  whined  Tommy. 
"  My  mother  says  you're  a  bad  boy,  and 
I  mustn't  'sociate  wid  you." 

"  You've  got  to  come,"  said  Billy,  tri 
umphantly;  "  'cause  you  don't  know  the 
way  home.  My  mother  says  you  ain't 
nothing  but  a  big  baby,  with  yer  curls 
and  yer  white  stockin's." 

Tommy  quailed  at  once  before  this 
awful  sarcasm,  and  walked  meekly  along 
by  Billy  until  they  actually  reached  the 
ground,  and  found,  to  their  dismay,  that 
people  were  expected  to  pay  for  going 
to  a  circus.  Half  suffocated  by  the 
dust,  trampled  and  jostled  by  the  crowd, 
and  frightened  out  of  their  wits,  they 
finally  made  their  way  to  a  vacant  lot 
behind  the  tent,  and  sat  down  to  rest, 


TOMMYS    ADVENTURE.  145 

and  think  what  to  do  next.  The  fence 
was  covered  with  an  awful  picture  of  a 
man  in  a  cage  of  wild  beasts,  and  Billy's 
courage  revived  as  he  looked  at  it. 

"  Tell  ye  what,"  said  Billy,  "  if  I  was 
a  top  o'  that  fence,  I  could  peek  in." 

Tommy  looked  up  hopelessly  at  the 
high  fence,  and  made  no  remarks,  but 
Billy  began  at  once  to  make  search  for 
a  board,  and  finally  secured  a  short  one, 
which  he  managed  to  drag  from  under 
a  pile  of  rubbish,  and  leaned  it  against 
the  fence.  The  first  attempt  at  mount 
ing  brought  him  down  with  a  sprawl  to 
the  ground. 

"Jiggles  too  much,"  he  explained,  wip 
ing  his  mouth  on  his  jacket  sleeve. 
"  You'll  have  to  sit  down  and  hold  it 
steady." 

"  I  don't  want  to,"  said    Tommy ;   "  I 


10 


146  WHAT    TOMMY    DID. 

want  to  go  home.      My  mamma    wants 


me." 


"  You  hold  it,"  said  Billy,  "and  I'll  tell 
ye  what  I  see,  and  then  we'll  go  straight 
home." 

So  Tommy  sat  down  and  braced  his 
back  against  the  board,  and  Billy  man 
aged,  after  a  good  deal  of  jumping  and 
squirming,  to  reach  the  top  of  the  fence, 
where  he  hung  suspended  by  his  knees 
and  elbows.  He  could  see  a  good  deal, 
much  more  than  he  expected ;  but,  un 
fortunately  a  tall  man  on  the  inside  of 
the  fence  saw  him,  also. 

"  Here,  you  little  rascal,"  he  called, 
"  get  down  from  there  ; "  and  he  reached 
up  and  rapped  Billy's  fingers  with  the 
end  of  his  cane. 

Billy  would  have  been  very  glad  to 
get  down,  but  his  legs  were  too  short 


TOMMY'S  ADVENTURE.  147 

to  reach  the  board  by  which  he  had 
mounted,  so  he  dangled  about  for  a 
while,  until  another  rap  on  his  fingers 
forced  him  to  let  go  and  drop  to  the 
ground,  where  he  lay  crying  with  pain 
and  anger.  Tommy  cried,  too,  for  com 
pany,  and  the  noise  soon  brought  a 
crowd  about  them.  First,  some  idle 
boys,  who  began  to  tease  and  torment 
them,  from  the  same  spirit  in  which  they 
would  have  tied  a  tin  pail  to  the  tail  of 
an  unfortunate  dog ;  then  a  man,  who 
advised  them  to  go  home ;  and  then 
a  fat  old  peanut  woman,  who  had 
sold  out  her  stock,  and  who  scattered 
the  rabble  of  boys  with  a  few  hearty 
cuffs,  and  pouncing  upon  the  two  chil 
dren,  dragged  them  out  to  the  sidewalk. 
"  Now,"  said  she  to  Tommy,  "  tell  me 
where  you  live,  my  little  man." 


148  WHAT    TOMMY    DID. 

"  I  live  in  papa's  house,"  sobbed  Tom 
my,  "  wid  mamma  and  Uncle  Jim." 

"  He  lives  on  Oak  street,"  said  Billy, 
beginning  to  recover  his  spirits.  "  I'm 
a  taking  care  of  him,  and  I  know  the 
way  home  —  I  guess  I  do,"  he  added, 
looking  around  a  little  dubiously. 

"  You  come  along  with  me,"  said  the 
woman  ;  "  I'm  just  going  that  way  my 
self."  And  she  kept  fast  hold  of  Tom 
my's  hand,  as  she  waddled  along  very 
much  in  the  style  of  a  big  rocking  chair 
out  for  a  promenade. 

When  they  reached  the  corner  of  the 
alley,  she  released  Tommy,  and  the 
young  gentleman  went  home  without  a 
word  to  Billy,  who  crept  into  the  livery 
stable,  feeling  decidedly  crest  fallen. 

il  O,  here  he  comes,  ma'am,"  said  Ellen, 
rushing  down  the  yard  and  seizing  Tom- 


TOMMYS    ADVENTURE.  149 

my  by  the  hand.  "  Yer  a  nice  b'y,  now, 
to  be  scarin'  yer  ma  into  fits  with  yer 
vagabone  ways!"  And  as  she  talked 
she  dragged  Tommy  along  and  pre 
sented  him  to  his  mother,  saying,  "  Here 
he  is,  ma'am,  all  safe  and  sound.  I 
knew  he  would  turn  up." 

Tommy's  heart  smote  him,  when  he 
saw  how  pale  his  mother  looked,  and  he 
laid  his  head  in  her  lap  and  began  to  cry, 
penitently. 

"Where  have  you  been,  Tommy?" 
asked  his  mamma,  laying  her  hand 
gently  on  his  head. 

"To  the  cirkis,  with  Billy,"  sobbed 
Tommy. 

"  And  you  ran  away !  Oh,  Tommy, 
mamma  thought  she  could  trust  her  lit 
tle  boy,"  said  his  mamma,  sadly ;  and  at 
that  Tommy  cried  harder  than  ever. 


I5O  WHAT    TOMMY    DID. 

They  had  a  long  talk  about  it,  and 
Tommy  was  very  much  disposed  to  lay 
all  the  blame  on  Billy  ;  but  his  mamma 
preached  him  quite  a  little  sermon  from 
the  text,  "  My  son,  if  sinners  entice  thee, 
consent  thou  not;"  and  after  a  while  he 
began  to  see  that  his  part  of  the  wrong 
lay  in  the  consenting. 

"  But  Billy's  a  real  naughty  boy, 
mamma,"  he  added,  "  and  I  fink  I'd  bet 
ter  not  play  with  him,  'cause  he's  always 
^ticing  me,  and  I  might  consent." 

His  mamma  thought  so,  too. 


CHAPTER    XIV. 


THE    STORY    WITHOUT    ANY    END. 

'OMMY   had  a  sore  thumb.     The 
fact  is,  Tommy  burned  his  thumb, 
burned    it    pretty    badly,    too, 
while    he  was   trying  an  experiment 
with  steam.     It  happened  in  this  way : 

Wally  Roberts  was  what  they  call  a 
genius,  which  means  he  was  always  pok 
ing  and  prying  about,  trying  to  find  the 
reason  of  everything ;  once  or  twice  he 
had  blown  himself  up  with  his  experi 
ments,  but  he  kept  on  just  the  same. 
Well,  Wally  happened  to  be  at  Mrs. 


152  WHAT    TOMMY    DID. 

Bancroft's  when  the  tea-kettle  was  boil 
ing  furiously,  sending  a  cloud  of  steam 
and  vapor  curling  away  from  the  spout. 
Tommy  was  playing  that  the  kettle  was 
his  engine,  and  he  ran  about  the 
kitchen  tooting  loud  enough  to  deafen 
you. 

"  I'm  lodomokif,"  said  he  to  Wally. 

"Wha-a-t?"  said  Wally,  squinting  at 
Tommy. 

"  Lodomokif;  that's  the  man  makes 
the  toot  go  to  the  engine,"  explained 
Tommy.  "  See  how  the  smoke  comes 
out  when  I  toot." 

"  It  isn't  smoked  said  Wally,  squinting 
at  Tommy  and  the  tea-kettle  together  ; 
"  it's  vapor,  and  it  has  to  come  out,  be 
cause  the  heat  expands  it.  If  you  should 
stop  up  the  nose  to  the  kettle,  the  lid 
would  fly  off,  and  if  you  should  fasten 


THE    STORY    WITHOUT    ANY    END.     153 

down  the  lid,  the  kettle  would  burst  like 

a  cannon  !  " 

i 

Wally  had  a  very  emphatic  way  of 
talking,  and  the  italics  made  a  great  im 
pression  on  Tommy.  He  stood*  still  all 
through  this  long  speech ;  and  when 
Wally  went  away  he  kept  on  looking  at 
the  tea-kettle,  thinking  how  delightful  it 
would  be  to  stop  up  the  nose,  and  fasten 
down  the  lid,  and  see  it  go  off  like  a 
cannon.  He  could  not  think  of  any 
way  to  manage  the  grand  result,  but  at 
least  he  could  stop  up  the  nose  and  see 
the  lid  fly  off;  and  so  he  tried  it  with- 
what  do  you  think  ?  Why,  his  poor  lit 
tle  tender  thumb  ! 

The  lid  did  not  fly  off,  but  Tommy 
did,  and  he  tooted  louder  than  "  lodo- 
mokif"  himself.  Bridget  ran,  and  so 
did  mamma,  but  nobody  knew  just 


154  WHAT    TOMMY    DID. 

what  had  happened,  for  all  the  unfor 
tunate  discoverer  could  say  was,  "  Oh, 
my  fum !  my  fum  !  It's  hurted  mos'  a 
def!" 

Of  course  it  stopped  aching  after  a 
while  —  nearly  all  hurts  do  stop  aching 
-  but  that  was  not  the  worst  of  it.  The 
thumb  was  done  up  in  linen  rags,  wet 
with  some  sort  of  disagreeable  stuff,  and 
poor  tired  Tommy  could  not  go  to  sleep 
and  forget  his  troubles,  because  he 
coulddt  put  it  in  his  mouth  /  You 
need  not  laugh  —  it  was  no  laughing- 
matter  to  him,  I  assure  you,  for  he  didn't 
know  how  to  go  to  sleep  without  suck 
ing  his  thumb,  any  more  than  you  would 
without  shutting  your  eyes.  That  was 
how  papa  came  to  tell  him  the  story. 
Mamma  had  gone  over  every  one  she 
knew,  and  at  the  end  the  big  eyes  were 


THE    STORY    WITHOUT    ANY    END.     155 

as  wide  open  as  ever,  and  the  dismal  lit 
tle  voice  wailed  out, 

"  I   can't  go    to  sleep  'out    my    fum." 

"  Now,  Tommy,"  said  papa,  "  shut  your 
eyes  and  don't  open  them  once,  and  I'll 
tell  you  a  story  without  any  end." 

"  Cruly  f  "  asked  Tommy,  popping  up 
his  head. 

"  Yes,  truly,  of  course.  Nobody  ever 
lived  long  enough  to  hear  the  end. 
Once  there  was  a  little  boy ' 

"'Bout  as  big  as  me?"  put  in  Tom 
my. 

"  No  ;  smaller  than  you  —  with  a  little 
red  mouth  that  was  always  laughing, 
and  a  little  red  tongue  that  was  always 
chattering,  and  two  red  cheeks  with 
dimples  in  the  middle,  and  a  whole  cap 
full  of  red  curls " 

"  Usht    you'd    buy    me    some    cap  full 


156  WHAT    TOMMY    DID. 

red  curls,"  said  Tommy,  longingly ;  then 
suddenly  started  up  to  say,  "  Oh,  papa, 
the  bobber  man  bobbered  all  Siddie's 
curls  off — didn't  leave  any  bit  of  hair, 
clear  down  to  the  seeds  of  it." 

"  Now,  Tommy,"  said  papa,  when  he 
stopped  laughing,  "  you  mustn't  talk. 
This  little  boy  with  red  cheeks  and  red 
curls-  -" 

"  Name  Billy  ?  " 

"  No ;  his  name  was  Clarence,  but 
they  called  him  Corporal  Trot.  This 
little  boy  went  down  to  the  sea-shore 
with  his  papa  and  his  nurse " 

"  Not  his  mamma  ?  " 

"  No ;  poor  little  Clarence  had  no 
mamma.  His  dear  mamma  was  dead," 
said  papa  very  impressively. 

''What  deaded  her?"  asked  Tommy. 

"  She   was  sick  —  very  sick    indeed  - 


THE    STORY    WITHOUT    ANY    END.     157 

and  the  doctor  couldn't  make  her  any 
better." 

"  Why  didn't  his  papa  buy  Another 
one  ? "  said  unfeeling  little  Tommy ; 
"  they  buyed  a  new  mamma  to  Wally's 
house." 

Papa  went  on  with  his  story. 

"  Every  day  the  nurse  used  to  take 
Clarence  and  put  a  red  flannel  bathing 
suit  on  him  and  take  him  with  her  to 
bathe  in  the  surf.  They  would  stand 
on  the  smooth  sand,  holding  fast  by  a 
rope,  and  the  great  waves  would  come 
rolling  up  and  splash  all  over  them,  and 
almost  lift  them  off  their  feet." 

"  Oh,"  said  Tommy,  sitting  right  up 
in  bed,  his  eyes  shining  with  delight  at 
the  thought,  for  Tommy  was  a  regular 
little  fish,  and  liked  nothing  so  much  as 
the  water. 


158  WHAT    TOMMY    DID. 

"  It  wasn't  fun  to  Clarence,"  said  pa 
pa,  laying  Tommy  back  on  his  pillow  ; 
"  he  hated  the  water  because  he  was 
afraid  of  it ;  and  when  he  saw  it  com 
ing  he  would  scream,  and  the  salt  water 
would  get  in  his  eyes  and  nose  and 
mouth,  arid  choke  him- 

"Oh,  papa!"  said  Tommy,  "I  choked 
me  awful,  day  after  to-morrow,  wid  a 
bone  to  a  peach,  and  Bridget  shaked 
me  till  I  unswallowed  it." 

"  Tommy,"  said  papa,  desperately,  "  if 
you  don't  stop  talking  I  shall  have  to 
go  away." 

"  Don't  you  care  anyfing  'bout  your 
poor  little  Tommy  got  hurt?"  demand 
ed  the  ^  youngster,  in  a  plaintive  tone ; 
and  papa  tried  again. 

"  Clarence  hated  his  bath  so  badly 
that  he  used  to  puzzle "  his  simple 


:  a,,ii  : 


'OH,"   SAID   TOMMY,   SITTING   RIGHT  UP   IN   BED,  HIS 

EYES   SHINING   WITH    DELIGHT. 

Page  158, 


THE    STORY    WITHOUT    ANY    END.     159 

little  brain  trying  to  contrive  ways  to 
get  rid  of  it.  He  used  to  hide,  but 
nurse  always  hunted  him  up  and 
dragged  him  out.  One  .day  his  papa 
went  to  Boston,  and  when  he  came 
back  he  brought  Clarence  a  little  red 
wooden  pail  and  a  bright  tin  dipper, 
and  he  told  nurse  to  put  on  his  bath- 
suit,  and  let  him  go  and  play  in  the 
surf.  That  was  jolly  fun,  I  can  tell 
you !  He  was  a  little  fearful  at  first, 
but  he  soon  got  used  to  the  spattering, 
and  a  very  brilliant  idea  occurred  to 
him.  He  saw  how  quickly  the  water 
disappeared  when  he  poured  it  upon 
the  sand ;  and  he  determined  that  he 
would  dip  up  all  the  water  in  that  great 
roaring,  tumbling  ocean  and  throw  it 
away,  so  nurse  would  have  no  place  to 
torment  him.  He  worked  like  a  beaver 


I6O  WHAT    TOMMY    DID. 

all  the  morning,  dipping  up  water  and 
pouring  it  away,  dipping  up  water  and 
pouring  it  away,  dipping  up  water  and 
pouring  it  away— 

Papa's  face  was  very  sober,  and  he 
never  once  took  his  eyes  from  Tom 
my's,  but  kept  on  saying  over  and  over, 
in  a  slow  drawling  tone, 

"  Dipping  -  up  -  water  -  and  -  pouring  -  it  - 
away." 

Tommy  waited  and  waited  to  hear 
the  rest  of  it ;  but  papa  kept  on  and 
on,  and  Tommy's  eyelids  began  to  drop 
lower  and  lower.  He  lifted  his  thumb 
once  towards  his  half  open  mouth,  and 
dropped  it  again ;  then  he  gave  a  sigh, 
and  his  eyes  shut  quite  up. 

"  Poor  little  kitten,"  said  mamma, 
softly,  "  his  troubles  are  over  for  this 


time." 


CHAPTER   XV. 


THE    BIRTHDAY    PARTY. 

[OMMY  was  taking  tea  with  Lulu 
Taylor  on  the  back  door  step. 
The  dishes  had  seen  their  best  days, 
and  the  spread  consisted  principally 
of  currants  and  some  peanuts  that  Tom 
my  found  in  his  pocket.  Lulu  wanted 
some  cake,  but  her  mamma  was  away, 
and  the  girl  was  "  scrosser'n  two  sticks," 
as  the  little  lady  reported.  However, 
they  made  the  best  of  it,  and  the  cat 
looked  on  hopefully,  and  sniffed  now 
and  then  at  a  peanut  shell  tossed  to- 


1 62  WHAT    TOMMY    DID. 

ward  her.  But  when  the  peanuts  gave 
out  Tommy's  interest  gave  out  too. 

"  I  don't  fink  this  is  any  fun,"  he  said. 

"  That's  'cause  you're  gettin'  to  be  a 
boy"  said  Lulu,  sitting  up  very  straight. 
"  I  don't  think  you  look  nice  at  all  ;  your 
curls  cut  off  and  horrid  old  boy's  clothes 


on." 


"  H'm.  These  clothes  are  most  new ; 
'sides  they  ain't  my  best  ones  too ;  and 
next  week  I'm  five  years  old,"  said  Tom 
my,  triumphantly. 

"  Oh,  my  sakes !  are  you  goin'  to  have 
a  party?"  said  Lulu,  eagerly. 

"  I  guess  so ;  if  I  want  to,"  said 
Tommy. 

"  You'd  ought  to,  Tommy  Bancroft ; 
everybody  has  to  have  birthday  parties ; 
You  go  and  ask  your  mamma,  and  then 
I'll  tell  you  just  what  we'll  do  'bout  it." 


THE    BIRTHDAY    PARTY.  163 

Tommy  wasn't  sure  about  the  party, 
so  he  went  in  very  leisurely,  revolving 
in  his  mind  a  remark  he  had  heard 
Uncle  Jim  make  several  times.  "  Par 
ties  were  a  bore"  Uncle  Jim  declared, 
and  Tommy  wasn't  sure  he  wanted  one 
of  those  things,  if  Lulu  did  say  so.  But 
when  he  opened  the  matter  to  mamma, 
she  approved  of  it  very  heartily,  and 
informed  the  young  gentleman  she  in 
tended  he  should  have  a  party  once  in 
five  years,  and  as  she  was  not  very  busy 
they  would  talk  over  the  invitations  at 
once. 

"  A  regular  party,  you  know,  Tommy," 
said  mamma,  dipping  her  gold  pen,  and 
smoothing  down  the  sheet  of  note  pa 
per  before  her. 

"  Yes,  I  know,"  said  Tommy,  who  was 
sliding  down  the  arm  of  the  lounge ; 


164  WHAT    TOMMY    DID. 

"  you  have  tickets  like  you  do  to  the 
musement  to  see  the  monkeys.1' 

"  These  are  the  tickets,"  said  mamma, 
showing  Tommy  a  pile  of  dainty  little 
notes,  on  pale,  rose-colored  paper,  with 
a  splendid  great  B  at  the  top.  "  Now 
you  must  tell  me  the  names  of  the  peo 
ple  you  want  to  invite,  and  I'll  put  them 
on  the  envelopes." 

Tommy  gave  one  last  slide,  and  came 
and  stood  by  his  mamma. 

"  May  I    sell    the  tickets  ? "  he  asked. 

"  Oh,  we  don't  sell  them,"  said  mamma, 
"  these  are  invitations,  and  you  send 
them  to  the  people." 

"  I  fink  they'd  ought  to  pay,"  said 
Tommy.  "  Nobody  can't  come  to  my 
party  'thout  they  pay." 

"  Well,"  said  mamma,  "  never  mind 
that  now;  who  shall  I  put  down  first?" 


THE    BIRTHDAY    TARTY.  165 

"  We-e-11,"  said  Tommy,  very  deliber 
ately,  "  le's  ask  grandma." 

"  Yes,"  said  mamma,  "  I  think  she 
would  like  to  come." 

"  An'  Mr.  Mike,  down  to  the  grocery. 
He  gaved  me  a  stick  of  candy  oncet 
for  nothing." 

"  But,  Tommy,"  said  mamma,  "  this 
is  to  be  a  children's  party,  and  you 
mustn't  invite  grown  folks." 

-Mustn't  I?"  said  Tommy.  "Well, 
I  wisht  I  knew  that  boy's  name  that 
sold  me  that  red  ink;  I  wouldn't  ask 
him,  would  you,  mamma  ?  " 

"  No,  you  must  only  invite  people 
of  your  acquaintance.  There's  Callie 
Trumbull,  and  Gracie  Dean,  and  Sid 
ney  Lush,  and  Charlie  Howard  ;  you 
want  them,  don't  you  ? " 

"Yes,  and,  and,  Billy ;    I'm  'quainted 


1 66  WHAT    TOMMY    DID. 

of  him.  I  guess  I  wouldn't  ask  Billy, 
would  you,  mamma?"  said  Tommy, 
watching  his  mamma's  face  like  a  wary 
politician. 

"No,"  said  mamma,  decidedly,  "you 
can't  ask  Billy ;"  and  then  she  made  out 
the  list  herself. 

That  very  afternoon  mamma  and 
Tommy  went  out  in  the  carriage  to 
deliver  the  invitations,  which  to  Tom 
my  was  no  small  part  of  the  pleasure. 
John  drove  from  house  to  house,  and 
while  mamma  sat  in  the  carriage,  Tom 
my  ran  up  the  steps,  rang  the  bell,  and 
left  his  invitations.  He  was  very  firm 
in  his  conviction  that  he  oucrht  to  ask 

o 

twenty-five  cents  for  a  "ticket,"  but 
finally  yielded  the  point  when  he  found 
he  must. 

It  was  to  be  a  sensible  party,  for  Tom- 


THE   BIRTHDAY    PARTY.  167 

mamma  was  a  great  deal  too  wise 
to  rob  the  little  children  of  their  bright 
eyes  and  rosy  cheeks  by  keeping  them 
or.t  of  their  beds  and  feasting  them  with 
dainties,  hours  after  they  should  have 
been  asleep.  So  the  invitations  were  all 

a   for  three  o'clock;  and  as   it 
charming    summer   weather,   the    tables 
were  spread  in  the  yard,  under  the  shade 
of  the  great  oak  trees, 

en  before  three,  some  of  the  impa 
tient  little  guests  made  their  appear 
ance,  the  first  clang  of  the  door  bell 
sending  Tommy  into  an  ecstasy  of  de 
light. 

u  I  don't  want  you  to  untertain  my 
company,"  he  said  to  mamma,  and  forth 
with  took  his  position  in  the  parlor, 
with  only  Totty  to  help  him  receive 
Totty  wasn't  much  of  a  talker,  and  at 


l68  WHAT    TOMMY    DID. 

the  very  first  arrival  she  hid  behind  a 
big  easy  chair,  from  which  her  lovely 
golden  head  peeped  out  like  a  wee  birdie 
from  a  nest. 

Grandma  was  taking  a  nap  after  her 
long  ride  from  the  farm ;  and  mamma 
and  Aunt  Alice  were  busy  with  the 
bouquets  and  wreaths  for  the  table  ;  so 
for  a  while  the  children  were  left  to 
themselves,  and  sat  in  state  around  the 
room,  looking  shyly  at  each  other,  and 
talking  in  solemn  whispers.  Little  Joey 
Webster  made  a  sudden  plunge  from 
his  corner,  and  said  "  Boo ! "  to  Trotty, 
which  caused  a  small  giggle  in  the  com 
pany,  but  his  sister  Nell  held  up  her 
finger  and  cried  "  Sh-sh,  Joey,"  as  if  they 
had  been  at  a  funeral.  I  don't  know  how 
long  this  would  have  lasted  if  Robbie 
Marsh  had  not  brought  his  new  jumping 


THE    BIRTHDAY    PARTY.  169 

jack  in  his  pocket,  and  pulled  it  out  and 
set  it  going.  There  was  a  rush  for  Rob 
bie's  corner,  and  in  a  moment  the  whole 
company  of  prim  little  people  were  laugh 
ing  and  talking  merrily.  Then  more  chil 
dren  came,  and  more  and  more,  till  they 
swarmed  all  over  the  house,  and  out  into 
the  yard,  and  you  would  have  thought 
a  troop  of  fairies  had  taken  possession. 
And  what  do  you  suppose  they  played  ? 
Well,  there  were  two  swings  with  basket 
chairs,  so  that  nobody  could  fall  out,  and 
there  was  a  new  croquet  set,  and  then 
Uncle  Jim  was  perfectly  splendid.  Why, 
he  and  Aunt  Alice  knew  more  games 
than  ever  were  heard  of,  and  I  do  be 
lieve  they  made  some  of  them  up  on 
purpose.  So  they  romped  and  laughed 
and  had  a  real  jolly  time,  all  but  two 
or  three  poor  little  things  whose  mam- 


I7O  WHAT    TOMMY    DID. 

mas  had  dressed  them  up  so  very  nicely 
they  did  not  dare  to  stir  for  fear  of 
spoiling  their  beautiful  clothes  or  stain 
ing  their  white  satin  slippers. 

They  were  playing  "  King  Charles' 
Troops,"  when  papa  and  mamma  came 
to  say  that  supper  was  ready.  Uncle 
Jim  began  to  marshal  them  two  and 
two,  but  Tommy  stoutly  objected  to 
taking  the  lead  with  little  Totty. 

"  I  want  to  go  with  my  beau,"  said 
Tommy.  "  Lulu  Taylor  said  we  must 
go  with  our  beaux ;  mamma,  mamma, 
who  is  my  beau  ?  " 

Callie  Trumbull  volunteered  to  go 
with  Tommy,  and  as  she  was  the  big 
gest  girl  there,  he  finally  consented,  and 
soon  the  happy  company  was  ranged  on 
either  side  of  the  long  table,  looking 
with  eager  eyes  at  the  wonderful  pyra- 


THE    BIRTHDAY    PARTY.  17! 

mids  of  pink  and  white  ice  cream,  the 
great,  luscious  strawberries,  glowing  in 
their  crystal  dishes,  the  biscuits  and  the 
sandwiches,  the  tarts  and  the  cakes 
without  number,  the  nuts  and  candies 
and  raisins.  The  children  behaved 
grandly,  every  blessed  little  soul  of 
them,  much  better  than  I  have  seen 
grown-up  children  behave  on  such  occa 
sions. 

One  tiny  morsel  of  a  girl,  whom 
Uncle  Jim  was  helping  to  strawberries, 
asked,  in  a  quivering  whisper, 

"Mr.  Bancroft,  when  docs  it  let  out?" 

"What?"  asked  Uncle  Jim,  not  quite 
understanding. 

"  Oh,  the  party  ;  when  does  it  let  out?" 
said  the  midget. 

"  Oh,  you  can  stay  just  as  long  as  you 
please,"  said  Uncle  Jim. 


172  WHAT    TOMMY    DID. 

"  Goodey !  then  I  mean  to  stay  most 
all  night,"  laughed  the  little  girl. 

When  the  children  were  eating  their 
nuts  and  candies,  somebody  put  little 
Dct  Leonard  up  on  the  table,  and  she 
stood  up  as  straight  and  stiff  as. a  candy 
image  and  said  some  funny  little  verses 
about  Tommy,  and  everybody  laughed 
and  clapped  their  hands,  and  made  a 
great  fuss  over  Dotty. 

a  You  ought  to  make  a  speech,  Tom 
my,"  said  Uncle  Jim. 

"What  shall  I  say  it  about?"  asked 
Tommy,  who  liked  the  idea,  "  I  know 
Humpty  Dumpty,  and  another  verse." 

"  Oh,  you  must  thank  the  children  for 
coming  to  your  party,  and  say  you  hope 
they  have  had  a  good  time,"  suggested 
Uncle  Jim;  and  then  he  put  Tommy  on 
the  table  very  quickly,  for  fear  mamma 


DOT   LEONARD. 


Page  172. 


THE    BIRTHDAY    PARTY.  173 

would  interfere,  and  Tommy  looked 
about  him  like  a  lord,  and  began, 

"  Fank  you  very  much  for  coming  to 
my  party,  but  you  couldn't  come  'thout 
I  sended  you  the  tickets.  I'm  glad  you 
had  a  good  time,  and  if  there's  any  ice 
cream  left,  my  mamma's  gotn'  to  send 
some  to  Billy.  My  papa  buyed  the 
birfday  cake  to  the  city,  but  mamma 
and  Aunt  Alice  made  all  the  rest,  and 
squirted  the  crinkles  round  the  edge 
wid  a  squirter  full  of  frostin'.  That's 
all.  Take  me  down,  Uncle  Jim." 

Mamma  scolded  Uncle  Jim,  but  she 
laughed,  too,  and  I  know  she  thought  it 
was  funny. 

By  and  by  the  carriages  began  to 
come  for  the  little  folks,  and  a  few  of 
the  more  independent  went  off  alone. 

"  Don't  you  want   some   of  the  older 


174  WHAT    TOMMY    DID. 

ones  to  go  with  you,  Harry  ?  "  asked  papa, 
as  a  little  boy  came  up  to  take  his  leave. 

UO,  no,"  said  Harry.  "Why,  I  ain't 
afraid  when  it's  as  dark  as  a  pitch." 

But  presently  the  little  hero  came 
back,  saving,  in  a  confidential  whisper, 

"Mr.  Bancroft,  I'm  kinder  'fraid  of 
June  bugs."  So  he  waited  for  company. 

When  they  were  all  gone,  and  Tommy 
stood  at  the  door  watching  the  last  car 
riage  whirling  down  the  street,  Uncle 
Jim  picked  him  up  and  asked, 

"  Well,  Tommy  Trotter,  how  do  you 
like  birthday  parties?" 

"  I  fink  it's  nice,"  sighed  Tommy, 
wrearily  laying  his  head  on  Uncle  Jim's 
shoulder.  Presently  he  lifted  it  up  to 
say,  with  sudden  animation, 

"Uncle  Jim,  wouldn't  I  had  lots  of 
money  if  they'd  all  paid  ?  " 


m 


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